Biden’s plan to allow citizenship for immigrant spouses ruled illegal

The Keeping Families Together scheme set to be blocked for the rest of the president’s term

A judge has ruled against Joe Biden’s plan to allow a path to citizenship for immigrant spouses of US citizens.
The White House has tried to make it easier for immigrants who are married to Americans to become citizens in an initiative known as Keeping Families Together.
On Thursday a judge in Texas found that the programme – which would potentially grant citizenship for about 500,000 immigrants who entered the US illegally – was against the law.
US District Judge J Campbell Barker ruled that the initiative exceeded the President’s executive authority. 
The Biden administration could still appeal the decision but the programme could now be blocked for the rest of the Democrat’s term in office, which ends in January.
The policy was launched in August but was blocked days later by the same judge, who left it frozen while he considered a legal challenge to the scheme brought by Texas and Republican attorneys-general from other US states.
Mr Biden announced the scheme in June, a few weeks before he dropped out of the presidential race and backed Kamala Harris, his vice-president, for the Democratic nomination.
Donald Trump defeated Ms Harris in Tuesday’s election in a landslide and is expected to launch a wide-ranging immigration crackdown that would likely end the Keeping Families Together initiative.
The Trump campaign has previously called the proposal a “mass amnesty” that would encourage more illegal immigrants to enter America.
It comes a day after it was reported that the Biden administration is preparing for a possible migrant surge at the border ahead of Mr Trump’s swearing-in in January.
According to a new poll released on Thursday, Americans consider immigration to be the most pressing issue for Mr Trump to address when he takes office next year.
A large majority of people believe he will order mass deportations of people living illegally in the US, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.