A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Republican-led states against a Biden administration program that has allowed tens of thousands of immigrants from four countries to enter the United States.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton ruled the plaintiffs—a coalition of 21 states—“have not proven that Texas has suffered an injury” due to the program and therefore lacked standing to maintain this lawsuit.

“In reaching this conclusion, the Court does not address the lawfulness of the Program. The court may only reach that question after a plaintiff has established that it has standing,” the judge wrote in a 31-page ruling.
The Biden administration announced the program in January last year, allowing up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela to legally enter the United States each month.Under the program, immigrants must apply ahead of time for parole by providing the name of a person who will agree to financially support them if they’re approved.

The immigrant must also pass a background check and present themselves at a Port of Entry, rather than entering the United States illegally.

In his ruling, Mr. Tipton said that the number of people illegally entering the United States from the four countries has “dramatically decreased” by “as much as 44 percent” since the program was implemented.

“This case is dismissed without prejudice. The Court denies all requested relief and will enter a final judgment by separate order,” he added.

Some 234,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans had entered the United States through the program as of November last year, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statistics.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has praised the ruling, calling the parole program “a key element of our efforts to address the unprecedented level of migration throughout our hemisphere.”

The Texas-Led Lawsuit

Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, led the coalition of 21 states in filing the lawsuit in January last year. They claimed that the parole programs go beyond the permissible scope of the law.

“The Department’s parole power is exceptionally limited, having been curtailed by Congress multiple times, and can be used only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

“But the Department’s new parole program allows aliens in their home countries to obtain the benefit of being able to obtain advance authorization to enter the United States—despite no other basis in law for them doing so,” the complaint reads.

The states also argued that the program is causing them to spend “significant amounts of money” to provide education and health care services to immigrants. Texas said the program costs it “tens of millions dollars annually,” according to the complaint.

Joining Texas in the action were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.