GOP Senators Introduce Bill to Stop Biden's Parole Program to Help Undocumented Spouses of U.S. Citizens

President Joe Biden introduced earlier this year an executive order earlier that provides a pathway to citizenship for undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens. Now, 14 Republican senators are seeking to get rid of it.

The Senators— which include both from Texas, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz— filed the Visa Integrity Preservation Act of 2024, which would require non-citizens who entered the United States illegally or overstayed their visa for more than six months to leave the United States and then apply for parole.

Biden's program, named Keeping Families Together, planned to get rid of the requirement to leave the country, separating spouses and children for oftentimes years. But on the new complaint, the GOP senators said the plan would create a "loophole" for allowing illegal immigration.

"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," 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 GOP's proposed bill would require undocumented individuals who are unlawfully in the country to "submit an in-person interview with a consular officer," according to Border Report.

"What they call their 'keep families together' agenda is being used as a loophole to allow illegal immigrants to bypass our legal immigration process," Cruz said. "We must send a clear message that the United States will not tolerate any manipulation of our immigration laws. That is why I am proud to join Sen. Cornyn and my Republican colleagues to stop this exploitation of our immigration system."

Other senators who signed the bill include Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd of North Carolina, Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho, Sen. Dan Sullivan of Arkansas and more.

Under Biden's program, applicants must prove they have lived continuously in the U.S. for 10 years and were married to an American citizen before the program was announced on June 17. They must also pass a criminal background check— felonies are disqualifying, as are a number of other crimes, such as domestic violence and most drug offenses.

The program was set to potentially benefit up to 500,000 undocumented individuals, the Biden administration says.

The new bill comes after the program was temporarily halted last month by a federal judge. That motion was led by the Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who said the parole in place program "directly violates the laws created by Congress."

"Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the federal government is actively working to turn the United States into a nation without borders and a country without laws," Paxton said in a statement. "This [program] violates the constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas."