Judge blocks Biden administration from granting legal status to spouses of U.S. citizens

A federal judge in Texas on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from granting legal status to unauthorized immigrants married to American citizens, granting a request from 16 Republican-led states who challenged the new policy.

The order by District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker effectively brings to a halt a large immigration program that opened just last week to an estimated half a million immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status. While preliminary and temporary, the ruling is also an early blow to one of the two major moves taken by President Biden in June on immigration, a top campaign issue in the 2024 race for president.

Announced just weeks after another executive action that has greatly curtailed access to asylum at the southern border, the program, known as Keeping Families Together, was announced as a measure to address the plight of some of the undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years in legal limbo.