A group representing Ohioans married to foreign nationals is speaking out about a lawsuit against a program that would give their immigrant spouses legal status as they seek to become permanent residents. The Keeping Families Together program was halted by a federal judge before it began last month.
Ohio’s Dave Yost is among the 15 attorneys general who have signed onto Texas’ lawsuit over the Keeping Families Together program, which would offer parole in place for undocumented immigrant spouses as they try to obtain lawful residency.
The program was created by President Biden in an executive order in June, and was set to start last month. The lawsuit led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the program "incentivizes illegal immigration" and will harm the states that have joined the suit.
But as Springfield is at the center of the debate over immigration, members of the group American Families United are calling on Yost to drop out of the lawsuit against the program, which they said could benefit 16,000 people in Ohio.
Jacob Payen is a legal immigrant who speaks for the Haitian American Alliance and runs a business in Springfield. He's also a veteran of the U.S. Navy, which he said he joined as "a way for me to give back to America what America has given to me as a country."
“This lawsuit is not helping us. This is destroying what we look up to as the American dream," Payen said. "With this lawsuit, we can no longer chase that dream as immigrants.”
The Haitian community in Springfield has been the target of false and racist rumors as the city struggles with a huge influx of legal immigrants, who are living and working in Ohio under federal temporary protected status. Around 15,000 immigrants have arrived over the last year, straining the city's housing, health care and education systems. But employers and the city have said they are needed to fill jobs.
A spokesperson for Yost said the lawsuit over Keeping Families Together continues.
"The federal agency doesn’t get to ignore clear direction from Congress," said deputy press secretary Dominic Binkley in a written statement. "The law requires a 'case-by-case,' not parole in place."
The Keeping Families Together program is still accepting applications for parole-in-place, though the program is frozen "pending further order of the Fifth Circuit".
