Thousands of affected Pennsylvanians will have to wait months to see if they can use “Keeping Families Together” for a path to lawful residency after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals halted district court proceedings in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security.
The Department of Homeland Security implemented “Keeping American Families Together” on Aug. 19 and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services started approving applications. On Aug. 26, the state of Texas filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security halting the process.
On Sept. 11, the Fifth Circuit stopped proceedings to resolve an appeal made by the Justice Action Center and Make the Road New York after their motion to intervene in the case was denied. The Fifth Circuit set oral arguments for Oct. 10.
“Keeping Families Together” is a process for certain noncitizen spouses and noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens to request parole in place (PIP) under existing statutory authority.
The program, put in place by the Biden administration, allows families to apply for lawful temporary legal status without having the remove the applicant from the U.S. while waiting for permanent resident status.
The goal of this new initiative is meant to minimize family separation and restore the workforce. Chair of the PA Latino Caucus Rep. Danilo Burgess said it is a fact that undocumented immigrants contribute to the growth of the economy.
“Federally, they contributed over a billion dollars in the last year, fiscal year, to the economy,” Burgess said.
Texas and 15 other states cited “Keeping Families Together” as unlawful in its lawsuit and alleging the PIP program will cause harm to each of the 16 states. Burgess called the injunction un-American in response.
“Unfortunately, it’s not about helping anyone. The Republican Party continues to just say that [undocumented workers] are essential when it’s convenient for them,” Burgess said.
Julio Rodriguez, political director for Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, said the injunction was another ploy to be xenophobic.
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“It’s not necessary because there’s precedent for this,” Rodriguez said. “It’s been done with the spouses of folks in the military.”
DHS estimates the program would benefit 550,000 noncitizen spouses and stepchildren. Rodriguez estimated it would benefit 5,000 people in Pennsylvania.
“There’s more than just Philly and Pittsburgh, there’s other places where there are immigrants such as Hazleton, Pennsylvania,” Rodriguez said.
Residents are still able to submit their applications, but will have to wait for the process to actually restart. The application requires a number of qualifications for consideration. Applicants must be without admission or parole and have continuously been present in the U.S. since June 17, 2014. Spouses of U.S. citizens need a valid marriage license on or before June 17, 2014, and stepchildren need to be under 21 years old and unmarried.
Rodriguez said he felt torn about “Keeping Families Together” because of Biden’s executive action in June barring migrants crossing the Southern Border from receiving asylum.
“So it’s like, okay, well we’re going to help out a lot of people here at the same time there’s thousands of people that are being affected negatively,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like a lot of people have lost sight of what’s happening at the border.”
Rodriguez said he sees the benefits of the program, but that people can praise the efforts and still ask for more to be done.
“There’s no discussion as to what’s happening to people as they’re waiting to enter the U.S., there’s violence, there’s so many things that the people are enduring,” Rodriguez said. “Again, seeking asylum is a legal right.”
While applicants wait, Burgess urges citizens to call their congressman or congresswoman to move legislation that will “provide community members with a path to legalization.”
Rodriguez and the PICC provide people in the community with information on the application process. Rodriguez said on the local level, PICC was hoping to coordinate with pro bono legal organizations to take on cases, but due to the injunction have not moved forward with the project.
“Our model is to support our member organizations throughout the state and so the first thing was sharing out information updates of what was happening,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he’s hoping Pennsylvania can take a more active role and leverage resources to help immigrants and their families.
“My hope in Pennsylvania is that we can collaborate with and see the government take a more proactive role with space, and resources to host workshops and provide facilities,” Rodriguez added.
