20 Republican states sue Joe Biden over immigrant parole program

On Tuesday, a 20-state Republican-led group filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the one-month humanitarian parole program that allows thousands of immigrants from certain countries to enter the United States.

The lawsuit led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argues that the program Biden expanded is illegal because the administration failed to engage in the usual notice and comment rulemaking process, which is required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Republican document also claims that the parole program is not valid for urgent humanitarian reasons, nor does it promote any significant public benefit.

"Instead, it amounts to the creation of a new visa program that allows hundreds of thousands of aliens to enter the United States who otherwise have no basis for doing so. This flouts, rather than follows, the clear limits imposed by Congress," the lawsuit states.

In addition, the document highlights the "substantial irreparable" damages that states are dealing with because of "the Department’s abuse of its parole authority, which allows potentially hundreds of thousands of additional aliens to enter each of their already overwhelmed territories." This has forced states to take on more health, education and social service costs.

The parole program

In October, the Biden administration announced that it would allow a limited number of Venezuelans to fly directly to the United States, provided they not enter illegally or have a sponsor.

Earlier this month Joe Biden decided to expand the program to include Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, which would allow up to 30,000 people to enter per month, further increasing the border crisis.

"The Biden open borders agenda has created a humanitarian crisis that is increasing crime and violence in our streets, overwhelming local communities, and worsening the opioid crisis. This unlawful amnesty program, which will invite hundreds of thousands of aliens into the U.S. every year, will only make this immigration crisis drastically worse," said Ken Paxton.