A Biden administration program allows migrants and asylum seekers from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti to apply to come to the U.S. on a temporary basis with a sponsor. But a group of GOP-led states are suing to stop it.

Now, a group of families and individuals hoping to use the program to bring their love ones to the U.S. are now asking to make their case in court. 

Led by Texas, the states filed suit against the program after it was introduced in January, arguing it was unlawfully created. It’s the latest legal spat over immigration policy under the Biden administration. Monika Langarica, a staff attorney with the UCLA Center for immigration Law and Policy, said like other suits before it, this one is between states and the federal government. 

"So what is missing in this case like the others, is the voices, the perspectives and the interests of individual people who are actually impacted by the policy," she said.

The parole program allows up 30,000 people a month from the four countries to come to the U.S. on humanitarian parole, which allows them to live and work for two years. Recipients must apply from away from the border, they need a U.S. sponsor and the ability to pay for a flight to get here. Rights advocates have argued those stipulations are not realistic for asylum seekers fleeing immediate harm. The program's creation in January also came as the Department of Homeland Security announced an expansion of pandemic-era restrictions on asylum at the border. The health protocol Title 42 now applies to Nicaraguans, Haitians, Venezuelans, Cubans, Mexicans and Central Americans.  

Langarica is part of a group of attorneys who filed suit on behalf of seven people in the U.S. hoping to become sponsors through the program. They’re asking the court to allow them to become parties in the case.  She said while it's no substitute for a working asylum system, the parole program is a critical pathway.

"The spectrum of people who seek to come to the U.S. under this program is broad, and we hope that the individuals on whose behalf we are intervening in this case represent at least a portion of that broad spectrum," she said. "This program is imperfect, but it has provided a glimmer of hope in otherwise grim landscape that is brought on by these increasingly restrictive border and asylum policies."