Attorney General Knudsen leads coalition against immigration program rewarding illegal immigration

HELENA - Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen Tuesday led a coalition of seven attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit challenging a Biden-Harris administration rule that would allow illegal immigrants to remain where they are in the United States, while also allowing them the possibility of employment and affording them access to public benefits programs.

The brief, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, supports a lawsuit challenging the Biden-Harris administration's "Parole-in-Place" (PIP) rule. This rule would allow over one million illegal aliens to remain in the United States and live as temporary legal residents until they can apply for permanent residency, increasing costs and administrative burdens for states.

"Defendants' latest move is to rewrite immigration law to allow over a million illegal aliens to remain in the United State and live as temporary legal residents until they can apply for permanent residency," Attorney General Knudsen wrote."Defendants do all that amid an ongoing immigration crisis that imposes significant costs on the States, including hundreds of millions of dollars in new expenses relating to law enforcement, education, and healthcare programs."

In August 2024, the Department of Homeland Security implemented the PIP rule, which added fuel to the unprecedented illegal immigration crisis the country is facing. The program incentivizes illegal immigration as it sends a strong signal that the United States is unwilling to enforce immigration laws. And with this increase in illegal immigration, crime and drug rates will continue to rise. Montana saw a 111% increase in seized fentanyl in 2022, with evidence that the drug was being trafficked by illegal immigrants.

The PIP program exceeds the power granted to the executive branch by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act, which only authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to parole inadmissible aliens on a "case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit." PIP grants millions of illegal immigrant's parole with the stroke of a pen.

The PIP program will also place significant harms on the states, including program-specific costs and the costs of providing benefits to illegal aliens who would otherwise not have them. Not only that, but the Biden-Harris administration failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements.

"Defendants' challenged policies here, however, reflect a disregard for both federalism and the harms they are imposing on States. Because States have fewer means to protect themselves in the immigration context, it is vital that States at least be able to insist that Defendants comply with federal law,"the brief states.

Attorneys general from Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Utah joined Attorney General Knudsen and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in filing the brief.

Click here to read the brief.

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