On November 7, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a final judgment striking down the Biden Administration's "Keeping Families Together" program. The judge ruled in favor of the 16 Republican-led states on the day following the presidential election that resulted in Americans putting President-Elect Donald Trump back in the White House.

The judgement held that the Biden Administration did not have the authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to grant parole to noncitizens who are already in the United States.

As a result of the ruling, USCIS is no longer accepting Form I-131F applications and pending adjudications have been halted. At a future date, USCIS will announce how they will be handing pending cases and paid application fees.

The Parole in Place program would have allowed eligible noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for their green cards without having to leave the U.S. to complete consular processing.

An appeal by the Department of Justice has not been announced.

We are greatly disappointed by the decision in the case. Our office will continue to monitor updates related to the Texas decision and communicate that important information to our network. As a result of the decision, our firm will no longer be assisting with filing Form I-131F applications.