Trump judge blocks Biden ‘parole in place’ immigration rule

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 14:01:16 +0000

FILE — President Joe Biden talks with the U.S. Border Patrol and local officials, as he looks over the southern border, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas, along the Rio Grande. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

A federal judge in Texas has struck down a policy aimed at allowing undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to stay in the country instead of being deported while waiting for green card status.

The so-called “parole in place” policy was announced by President Joe Biden in June, and the “Keeping Families Together” program was implemented on Aug. 19. According to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, the purpose was to allow “certain noncitizen spouses and noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens to request parole in place” and avoid deportation. Specifically, it allowed spouses and stepchildren to stay in the U.S. while applying for Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status, instead of leaving the country and seeking an immigrant visa, waiting for approval — which could potentially take years — in their home country.

Texas — which has a history of fighting Biden’s border policies — along with more than a dozen other states filed a lawsuit within days of the announcement, and on Aug. 26, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker issued an administrative stay blocking enforcement of the policy. On Thursday, Barker made the stay permanent, finding that the Biden administration lacked the legal ability to grant this type of relief to noncitizens.

“The court declares that defendants lack statutory authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A) itself (as opposed to under other provisions modifying or supplementing that authority) to grant parole ‘in place’ to aliens, as that term is used in the final agency action published [on Aug. 20, 2024], or to deem parole ‘in place’ as used there to be parole ‘into the United States’ for purposes of [federal immigration law]. That agency action is hereby set aside and vacated[,]” wrote Barker, a Donald Trump appointee, in a one-page judgment.

In a separate, 74-page memorandum, Barker explained his reasoning.

The judge noted that while the policy didn’t automatically change the qualifying noncitizens’ status — that decision was left to the discretion of Department of Homeland Security officials, who “may” grant such a request — language in the rule itself suggests that such applications would have to essentially be rubber-stamped.

“The Rule then constrains the exercise of that discretion, declaring that granting parole in place to aliens eligible under the Rule’s criteria ‘will achieve’ or ‘will generally provide’ significant public benefits,” Barker wrote, honing in on the difference between “may” and “will” in his interpretation of the rule.

The judge further found that other provisions of the policy similarly limited DHS officials’ decision-making ability.

“It is not merely a proposed measure,” he wrote. “It states what DHS ‘will begin’ doing.”

The language of the rule, Barker also found, “does not leave DHS personnel free to deny parole requests based on a different view” of relevant immigration law. “Rather, the Rule obligates DHS staff to act on a particular understanding of a legal norm, with direct consequences for whether many aliens obtain immigration relief or not.”

Barker didn’t buy the federal government’s argument that certain “qualifiers” in the language of the policy left officials “free to disagree in specific cases or exercised ‘unfettered’ discretion” to deny a noncitizen’s request.

“[I]t is more likely than not that, as employees of a government agency acting under directions to preserve family unity, agency staff will not read the Rule as allowing them to disregard the agency’s stated conclusion that a ‘significant public benefit’ as [federal law] uses the term includes granting parole in place to aliens meeting the Rule’s family-relationship and other eligibility criteria,” the judge wrote. “At a minimum, the Rule imposes a presumption no less impactful than the presumptions … that certain aliens are eligible for parole.”

Barker also found that requiring DHS staff to use “new forms and process” also “creat[ed] obligations binding them.”

Texas had argued that the policy injured the Lone Star State because the noncitizens’ updated status would allow them to qualify for state-sponsored benefits, such as food assistance through SNAP, as well as costs “incurred based on the continued presence and activities” of noncitizens as well as costs “incurred on account of future immigration into Texas encouraged by a broader message behind the Rule.”

The judge agreed, calling the “increased cost to Texas of administering SNAP for these additional beneficiaries is substantially likely” and would last for years.

“[Keeping Families Together] Rule beneficiaries who entered the country after August 22, 1996, would thus generally become SNAP eligible five years after receiving parole,” the judge wrote. “It is fairly predictable and substantially likely that SNAP benefits will be utilized among that group, as many will have incomes leading to SNAP enrollment even after work authorization (as with Americans generally).”

The judge also found that Texas had successfully shown that qualifying minors would also put an additional strain on the state’s SNAP resources. He also agreed that Texas would “incur concrete harm on account of increased costs of providing educational and healthcare services to that additional alien population.”

The Biden policy provided temporary relief from the threat of deportation to an estimated 500,000 people, NPR reported. Potential applicants under the policy would have to have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 10 years and not pose a security threat.

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BLM plans gather of excess wild horses: October gather will take place in Twin Peaks Herd Management Area

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 22:30:03 +0000

SUSANVILLE, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management has announced plans to gather and remove excess wild horses from public rangelands in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area to prevent impacts to rangeland health in Lassen County, Calif., and Washoe County, Nev. Gather operations will begin Tuesday, Oct. 1, and could continue for 15 days or longer.

The BLM plans to gather about 940 wild horses and remove about 870 of those from the rangeland along the California-Nevada border northeast of Susanville. Animals removed will be prepared for placement in private ownership through adoption or sale. Some animals, including mares treated with fertility control, would be returned to the range to maintain herd viability.

Operations will focus on wild horse home ranges in the northern and southern areas of the Twin Peaks HMA. In addition to managing populations within the herd management area, the operation will remove horses that are roaming outside of the HMA boundaries.

“While our gather in 2022 reduced populations, additional removals are needed to bring the population down to the appropriate management level of 448 to 758 wild horses,” said BLM Eagle Lake Field Manager Emily Ryan. “These high populations are causing rangeland degradation in the herd management area, with wild horses using more than their allocated forage and damaging riparian areas, wetlands and cultural resource sites.

Members of the public will be welcome to observe gather operations each day. They must reserve space by calling the gather information line at 530-252-5332 at least a day before they plan to visit. Information on the meeting location and time will be provided on the information line. Observation groups will be limited to 10 persons per day due to limited space for people and vehicles.

Those who plan to visit should plan on spending the entire day at the observation site. There are no nearby services and there will be no cell coverage. Temperatures this time of year may be cold when operations begin at dawn, warming to the 60s and low 70s in the afternoons.

Based on aerial counts earlier this summer and subsequent population modeling, the BLM believes there are about 1,800 wild horses and 140 wild burros in the herd management area that encompasses more than 800,000 acres including approximately 656,000 acres of BLM-managed public land.

The decision to gather excess animals was analyzed in a 2019 environmental assessment covering a 10-year period. The Notice of Decision authorizing the upcoming gather, the 2019 EA, and a determination of adequacy under the National Environmental Policy Act are available online.

The BLM is responsible under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act for protecting and managing wild horses and burros to protect resources and ensure healthy herds. The agency periodically removes animals from the range when populations exceed levels established to allow the herds to thrive in balance with other users including wildlife and permitted livestock. More information about the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program is available online.

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Trump judge blocks Biden ‘parole in place’ immigration rule

BLM plans gather of excess wild horses: October gather will take place in Twin Peaks Herd Management Area