The Biden administration is preparing to issue about $55 million in refunds to undocumented immigrants who applied for the “Keeping Families Together” program.
In August, the Biden administration's Department of Homeland Security implemented a program that would grant temporary legal status to “certain noncitizen spouses and noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens.” The program promised to streamline the path to permanent residency.
“It is in the public interest and consistent with applicable law.”
To qualify, spousal applicants must be married to a U.S. citizen and have resided in the U.S. for the past 10 years. Stepchildren had to be under 21, unmarried, and have an illegal alien parent married to a citizen.
People who had committed serious violent crimes were not eligible, but the program made exceptions for other crimes. It could also apply to illegal aliens facing deportation proceedings.
Under U.S. law, undocumented immigrants must first leave the country and legally re-enter the country to qualify for permanent resident status. The Biden administration's program allowed beneficiaries to remain in the country while awaiting parole or adjustment of status.
Biden administration's Customs and immigration services It is estimated that 500,000 spouses of illegal aliens and 50,000 stepchildren of illegal aliens are eligible to apply for this procedure.
Republicans pushed back against the administration's plan, calling it a large-scale amnesty program that seeks to circumvent federal immigration law.
A coalition of 16 Republican-led states has filed a lawsuit against Biden's policies. The lawsuit argued that the administration likely significantly underestimated the number of eligible applicants.
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker invalidated the administration's plan in November.
Barker argued that the process of keeping families together is “not in accordance with the law” and that the government has no legal authority to grant parole to illegal aliens.
Internal government documents obtained this week CBS News The government has announced that it plans to issue refund For illegal alien applicants who paid the $580 application fee. The news organization reported that about 94,000 people applied and the fees paid totaled about $55 million.
USCIS confirmed to CBS News that it has closed all pending applications and plans to issue refunds.
“The court order is [Keeping Families Together] As a result of this process, applicants have been forced to pay fees on their applications for immigration benefits, which cannot be taken into account as they are not at fault,” the agency said.
It said the refunds were “in the public interest and consistent with applicable law.”
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