(NewsNation) — Influencer and activist Carlos Espina said he’s heartbroken after a federal judge in Texas paused a Biden immigration program that offers a path to citizenship for spouses of U.S. citizens.
Espina told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that the pause will be a setback for many people who’ve “been in the U.S. for years.”
“For people paying taxes, have no criminal record, and now they’re back into this uncertainty,” Espina said on “CUOMO.” “Yes, they can still adjust their status through marriage, but they have to leave the country. And you never know what happens when that’s the case. … It’s horrible.”
The administrative stay issued by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker comes just days after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the program that could benefit an estimated 500,000 immigrants in the country, plus about 50,000 of their children.
One of the states leading the challenge is Texas, which in the lawsuit claimed the state has had to pay tens of millions of dollars annually from health care to law enforcement because of immigrants living in the state without legal status.
President Joe Biden announced the program in June. The court order, which lasts for two weeks but could be extended, comes one week after the Department of Homeland Security began accepting applications.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
