GOP senators vow to stop Biden admin’s ‘amnesty wand’ for illegal immigrants with US spouses

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans in the Senate are introducing a bill to block a push by the Biden administration to give humanitarian parole to illegal immigrants living in the U.S. who have American spouses — amid a broader conservative opposition to the administration’s use of parole.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is leading more than a dozen senators in introducing The Visa Integrity Preservation Act, which would amend federal law to explicitly bar illegal immigrants — specifically those who have entered illegally or overstayed a visa for more than 180 days — from receiving a waiver of the in-person consular interview. 

The rule would affect the Biden administration’s introduction of “parole in place,” which was announced in June and allows it to grant humanitarian parole and a path to permanent residency for certain illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens without them having to leave the country and interview at a consulate, as they generally do in order to apply for a visa.

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John Cornyn has hit a fundraising milestone amid his bid to be Republican Senate leader.  (Getty Images)

The new process, called “Keeping Families Together,” applies to noncitizen spouses who have lived in the U.S. for 10 years as of June and are judged not to pose a threat to public safety or national security. The administration argues that families live in fear and “face deep uncertainty about their future” due to the requirement that they depart and be processed abroad.

“In addition, individuals must have no disqualifying criminal history or otherwise constitute a threat to national security or public safety and should otherwise merit a favorable exercise of discretion,” a fact sheet said. DHS estimates that it will affect approximately 500,000 illegal immigrants. The process would not be eligible for new arrivals, as they must be in the U.S. for more than 10 years by June 2024.

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Republicans have pushed back furiously against the broad use of parole by the administration, including not only parole in place, but also the use of the CBP One app to grant parole to over 1.3 million foreign nationals in recent years both at the border and via a travel authorization program for four nationalities.

The Republican bill would mean that any illegal immigrant who wished to apply for a visa would still have to leave the U.S. for a consular interview before they could be granted a visa. Joining Cornyn on the bill are Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, James Risch, R-Idaho, Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, Steve Daines, R-Mont., Katie Britt, R-Ala., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Ted Budd, R-N.C., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

As seen from an aerial view, Texas National Guard troops watch over more than 1,000 immigrants who had crossed the Rio Grande overnight from Mexico on December 18, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. A surge of as many as 12,000 immigrants per day crossing the U.S. southern border has overwhelmed U.S. immigration authorities in recent weeks. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Cornyn’s office said it would prevent the administration from using “amnesty” to regularize illegal immigrants.

“For almost four years, the Biden-Harris administration has waived their magic amnesty wand to create unlawful programs that allow any and every person to enter and stay in the U.S. — legally or not,” Sen. Cornyn said in a statement. “By strengthening the laws already on the books, our legislation would root out this massive pull factor while also preserving the integrity of our employment-based nonimmigrant visa program, and I’m grateful to my colleagues for their support.”

The bill marks the latest pushback by Republicans against the program. Republican states, led by Texas, sued the administration over the rule, and a federal court has paused the program indefinitely.

The states argued that the rule violates federal law by an unlawful use of parole, which is limited to use on a “case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

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“Claiming that it has ‘unfettered discretion,’ Implementation of Keeping Families Together…DHS has announced the creation of a program that effectively provides a new pathway to a green card and eventual citizenship; announcing that it would allow more than 1.3 million aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States—more than 200,000 of whom live in Texas—to circumvent the processes established by Congress to apply for permanent residency,” the states argue in the filing.

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The White House, responding to the lawsuit last month, accused Republican officials of being “more focused on playing politics than helping American families or fixing our broken immigration system.”

“This lawsuit goes against our nation’s values, and we will vigorously defend Keeping Families Together and our ability to make the immigration system more fair and more just. We will also continue securing our border and enforcing our laws, something Congressional Republicans have refused to do time and time again,” a White House spokesperson said.