Since August 19, 2024, undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens have been able to file online applications for the Biden Administration’s new family-based Parole-in-Place program, which offers a promising path to residency for certain eligible individuals, potentially shortening the wait to legal status significantly. Despite the positive impact this program could have on many families, its progress has faced obstacles. Shortly after the program’s launch, 16 conservative states led by Texas filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas challenging the legality of the program.

On August 26, 2024, the District Court issued a temporary administrative stay and ordered that, while noncitizens can continue to submit applications for parole in place, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) is prohibited from granting applications through September 9, 2024. This stay was subsequently extended through September 23, 2024.

Also on August 26, 2024, a group comprised of noncitizens eligible for the parole-in-place program, their U.S. citizen spouses, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, filed a motion to intervene in the case to represent the rights of noncitizens directly affected by the program. The District Court denied the motion to intervene on September 3, 2024, and the intervenors appealed the denial of their motion to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting an expedited ruling on the matter prior to the District Court’s September 18, 2024 hearing. The Fifth Circuit declined to expedite the adjudication of their appeal, instead issuing an order on September 11, 2024, to stay District Court proceedings and further halt USCIS’s ability to approve applications until after a hearing on the appeal can be conducted. This hearing is now set for October 10, 2024.

USCIS has announced that it will continue to accept online parole applications. However, the agency is not able to grant any applications until further ruling from the court, which is now expected to come sometime after the Fifth Circuit’s October 10 hearing.

See here for more information regarding this and other developments in the lawsuit, and see here for USCIS’s latest updates on the program.