This post originally appeared at https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/judge-halts-biden-harris-plan-to-give-spouses-of-illegal-immigrants-pathway-to-citizenship/

A federal judge on Monday temporarily paused a Biden administration program that would grant a path to citizenship for the spouses of American citizens.

District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker paused the new Biden administration effort until a final ruling is made. The program in questions allows illegal immigrants who have married an American citizen to avoid deportation and start the path to citizenship.

The halt comes after a coalition of 16 states filed a lawsuit to challenge the program.

Proponents of the policy say it helps repair the immigration system and helps the migrants in limbo in the U.S.

Critics say it incentivizes illegal immigrants even more than they already are and that the policy violates the U.S. Constitution and breaks federal law.

“Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the federal government is actively working to turn the United States into a nation without borders and a country without laws. I will not let this happen,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who helped drive the effort, said in a statement. “Biden’s new parole workaround unilaterally grants the opportunity for citizenship to unvetted aliens whose first act on American soil was to break our laws. This violates the Constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas and our country.”