Judge supports Biden program that will give some immigrants legal status in the short term

A federal judge on Friday allowed the Biden administration to keep in place a program that officials have used to give temporary legal status to some citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The decision is a notable victory for the White House, which has faced criticism over immigration policies and used the temporary status program to discourage people from some of the region’s most restive countries from illegally crossing the U.S. southern border.

Texas and other Republican-led states had sued the Biden administration to block the program. But Judge Drew B. Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas sided with the administration, which deemed the program critical to border management.

The number of illegal crossings by nationals of three of the countries in the program has decreased, even as the overall number of migrant crossings has remained at historically high levels.

Judge Tipton’s ruling is a blow to Texas, which has filed a wave of lawsuits against the Biden administration as part of the state’s efforts to shape immigration policy, historically a federal matter.

The judge concluded that states could not be injured if the government adopted a program that reduces the number of border crossings.

“The record shows that the number of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan nationals entering the United States has fallen dramatically since the program’s implementation, by as much as 44 percent,” the judge wrote in his 31-page ruling.

“Plaintiffs therefore cannot demonstrate that they have been harmed by the program,” he added, “and as a result, they have no standing to bring these claims.”

This is a development story. Check back for updates.