SAN DIEGO — A federal judge has cancelled a Biden Administration initiative meant to help certain undocumented spouses and stepchildren of United States citizens receive certain protections and a pathway to permanent resident status without leaving the country.
For some people living in the U.S. without legal documents, the program called ‘Keeping Families Together' gave them an opportunity to get legal status without being separated from their family in the process.
“People applied for the program, within four days of the program opening there was a lawsuit filed against the program,” said Alliance San Diego Legal Services Director Michelle Celleri.
Celleri tells CBS 8 that within days of the program opening, there was a stay put in place, which meant the government could not approve any cases, but they were still able to accept and process them.
“Lots of people continued to apply for the program hoping that this stay would be lifted and the program would come to be,” Celleri said.
When the program was terminated on November 7, applications were stopped and any appointments were cancelled.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration website states they are taking steps to comply with the courts order.
CBS 8 spoke with Hurwitz Holtz Senior Associate Attorney Tessa Cabrera about the potential risks for people who applied.
"The danger is sort of always there when you provide your information to a government agency, what the government agency will do with your information I think is kind of unknown at this point ,” Cabrera said.
Meanwhile, there are still other options to get legal status.
“All these individuals that applied do qualify for lawful permanent residency status, they just have to take another avenue to do it and risk family separation,” Celleri said.
USCIS states that in the coming days, they will publish additional information on how they will handle pending cases and application fees.