Citizens of the United States who are sponsoring family members’ immigration to the country are attempting to get involved in a legal dispute over a crucial immigration policy that has been brought up by numerous Republican-led states.
The so-called humanitarian parole program, which offers a means for migrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti, and Cuba who want to enter the US to do so without making the perilous trek to the US-Mexico border, is at the focus of the lawsuit. Finding a sponsor in the US is one of the conditions that migrants must fulfill.
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Valerie Laveus, a Florida educator, told CNN, “I want my family members to have the same chance I was given.” One of the seven petitioners, Laveus, is attempting to relocate her brother and nephew from Haiti, where they are now living in perilous circumstances, to the United States.
The Biden administration’s larger plan to try to stop the flow of migrants to the US southern border now heavily relies on the deployment of the humanitarian parole program. President Joe Biden has frequently praised the initiative and, among other things, credited it with a recent decline in border crossings.
During his recent trip to Canada, Biden stated, “Since we created dedicated pathways in the United States, the number of migrants arriving on our southern border has dropped precipitously.”
However, Republican-led states launched a lawsuit against the humanitarian parole program in late January, claiming that the administration had overstepped its bounds in using the program and asking the court to halt it. The program will likely be defended by the Justice Department.
According to the petition, US citizens are now participating in the case to “defend their interests in the humanitarian and public benefits of the programs,” which include sponsoring family members to immigrate to the US.
In support of the seven citizens, the Justice Action Center recently filed a court document alongside RAICES and UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy.
Esther Sung, legal director at Justice Action Center noted, “we wanted to illustrate how these programs are being used by ordinary Americans in the United States.”
“All of these programs, I think, are pretty unique in modern-day immigration policy in that they allow the American public to interact with the immigration system in a way that people otherwise wouldn’t. I think our intervenors demonstrate the breadth and range of types of people who can and want to engage with the immigration system,” Sung explained.
After dealing with multiple setbacks in attempting to secure a visa for her relatives in Haiti, Laveus told CNN that she was hopeful about the program when it was launched by the Biden administration.
“When [the program] came out, it gave us a big light of hope because we saw an opportunity for them to come and be here and be safe. It’s heart-wrenching to have a part of you not safe,” she noted.
Eric Sype, who intends to sponsor a friend from Nicaragua, Francis Arauz, who is attempting to reconcile with her Nicaraguan spouse, Nan Langowitz, who is supporting family members of a Venezuelan human rights champion, and Nan Sype are other intervenors.
