McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Migrant advocacy groups denounced a lawsuit filed Friday by Texas and a coalition of other states to try to stop a new federal program that allows the undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for parole without leaving the country.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday opened applications for the Parole in Place program. If approved, spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens who have been in the country for at least a decade will be granted work authorization, permanent residency and eventually qualify for citizenship without having to leave the country.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday led a coalition of 16 states that filed a lawsuit against Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and others to kill the program, which he calls “unlawful.”

“I am suing the Biden Administration for their unlawful ‘parole in place’ policy that incentivizes and rewards illegal immigration,” Paxton tweeted.

Paxton says the program would permit 1.3 million undocumented persons to apply for permanent residency without having to leave the country, including an estimated 200,000 living in Texas.

“This change would allow certain classifications of illegal aliens to gain permanent residency status while remaining in the United States in violation of federal law,” Paxton said in a statement.

“Longstanding federal law prohibits aliens who entered the United States unlawfully from obtaining most immigration benefits. This includes obtaining lawful permanent resident
status — without first leaving the United States and waiting outside the United States for the
requisite time — based on an approved family-based or employment-based visa petition,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division. Other states joining Texas in the lawsuit include:

• Idaho
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Florida
• Georgia
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Missouri
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Wyoming

But migrant advocacy groups say the lawsuit is “politically motivated” by Republican-majority states, like Texas, and comes as the country is divided on immigration issues leading up to the presidential election in November.

“Once again a cadre of red states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have tapped the anti-immigrant judicial pipeline in a cynical effort to kill an immigration program that’s designed to keep American families together,” said David Leopold, legal adviser to America’s Voice.

Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us called the lawsuit a baseless legal attack against “a highly popular and lawful policy.”

“The only motivation behind this lawsuit is the cruelty of tearing families apart and the crass politics of hoping a judge might do the bidding of the anti-immigrant movement,” he said.

The co-chairman of the American Business Immigration Coalition Action, Al Cardenas, called the Biden policy “morally right and economically crucial.”

“These are spouses of U.S. citizens who’ve worked in the United States for decades paying taxes and raising families — granting them work permits and legal status benefits us all,” he said. “Republicans like Paxton should join the Biden-Harris push for bipartisan solutions that will protect our neighbors and strengthen the economy instead of wasting taxpayers’ time and money on frivolous lawsuits,”

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.