United States District Court Southern District of Texas Victoria Division
S
TATE OF
T
EXAS
, S
TATE OF
A
LABAMA
S
TATE OF
A
LASKA
S
TATE OF
A
RKANSAS
S
TATE OF
F
LORIDA
S
TATE OF
I
DAHO
S
TATE OF
I
OWA
S
TATE OF
K
ANSAS
C
OMMONWEALTH OF
K
ENTUCKY
S
TATE OF
L
OUISIANA
S
TATE OF
M
ISSISSIPPI
S
TATE OF
M
ISSOURI
S
TATE OF
M
ONTANA
S
TATE OF
N
EBRASKA
S
TATE OF
O
HIO
S
TATE OF
S
OUTH
C
AROLINA
S
TATE OF
T
ENNESSEE
S
TATE OF
U
TAH
S
TATE OF
W
EST
V
IRGINIA
S
TATE OF
W
YOMING
Plaintiffs,
v. U.S.
D
EPARTMENT OF
H
OMELAND
S
ECURITY
; A
LEJANDRO
M
AYORKAS
, in his official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S.
C
ITIZENSHIP AND
I
MMIGRATION
S
ERVICES
; U
R
J
ADDOU
, in her official capacity as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; U.S.
C
USTOMS
&
B
ORDER
P
ROTECTION
; T
ROY
M
ILLER
, in his official capacity as Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs & Border Protection; U.S.
I
MMIGRATION
&
C
USTOMS
E
NFORCEMENT
; and Case No. _________________
Case 6:23-cv-00007 Document 1 Filed on 01/24/23 in TXSD Page 1 of 39
2
T
AE
J
OHNSON
, in his official capacity as Acting Director of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement;
Defendants.
COMPLAINT
1.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS or Department), under the false pretense of preventing aliens from unlawfully crossing the border between the ports of entry, has effectively created a new visa program— without the formalities of legislation from Congress—by announcing that it will permit up to 360,000 aliens annually from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be “paroled” into the United States for two years or longer and with eligibility for employment authorization. 2.
The Department’s parole power is exceptionally limited, having been curtailed by Congress multiple times, and can be used “only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A). But the Department’s new “parole” program allows aliens
in their home countries
to obtain the benefit of being able to obtain advance authorization to enter the United States—despite no other basis in law for them doing so. 3.
The parole program established by the Department fails each of the law’s three limiting factors. It is not case-by-case, is not for urgent humanitarian reasons, and advances no significant public benefit. Instead, it amounts to the creation of a new visa program that allows hundreds of thousands of aliens to enter the United States who otherwise have no basis for doing so. This flouts, rather than follows, the clear limits imposed by Congress. 4.
In establishing this unlawful program, the Department did not engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act, substituting instead its unilateral judgment to bring into the
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United States hundreds of thousands of aliens who otherwise have no other authority to enter. 5.
The Plaintiff States—Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming—face substantial, irreparable harms from the Department’s abuses of its parole authority, which allow potentially hundreds of thousands of additional aliens to enter each of their already overwhelmed territories. 6.
The Department does not have the authority to invite more than a third of a million more illegal aliens into the United States annually as it has announced with this program. 7.
This Court should enjoin, declare unlawful, and set aside the Department’s lawless parole program.
Parties I.
Plaintiffs.
8.
Plaintiff State of Texas is a sovereign State of the United States of America. 9.
Plaintiff State of Alabama is a sovereign State of the United States of America. 10.
Plaintiff State of Alaska is a sovereign State of the United States of America. 11.
Plaintiff State of Arkansas is a sovereign State of the United States of America. 12.
Plaintiff State of Florida is a sovereign State of the United States of America.
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