In August, as part of the Biden-Harris administration's lax immigration policies, a new rule was implemented that would allow the illegal migrant spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to "parole in place" in America and receive legal status instead of being first deported and then required to enter the country legally.

On Thursday, in response to a lawsuit filed by multiple Republican state attorneys general, a federal judge struck that rule down as being beyond the administration's statutory authority, Scripps News reported.

Separately, a news report indicated that it was actions like that to alter or not enforce existing immigration laws and requirements that led to Vice President Kamala Harris having "lost big" in the election against former President Donald Trump.

Judge strikes down Biden-Harris "parole in place" rule

U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker, a Trump appointee in Texas, issued a one-page final judgment on Thursday which declared that the Biden-Harris administration defendants "lack statutory authority" to implement what was known as the "Keeping Families Together" rule.

Law & Crime reported that Judge Barker also issued a lengthy memorandum to accompany his order that explained his reasoning for the ruling.

He took issue with language in the rule that appeared to remove all discretion from immigration officials and required them to "rubber-stamp" applications from eligible migrants, that the rule would likely encourage more illegal immigration, as well as that those illegal migrants -- both in the program and otherwise -- would impose undue financial and societal costs on individual states.

Rule would've allowed illegal migrant spouses and stepchildren to avoid deportation

Scripps reported that the rule was first implemented in mid-August but was blocked from taking effect about a week later by the judge following the lawsuit filed by a coalition of Republican state attorneys general.

According to the White House, the new rule only applied to the illegal migrant spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens who'd lived in America for more than a decade, which was estimated to number around 550,000 individuals and would have allowed them to "parole in place" and not be deported as they sought permanent legal status.

However, per Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, the program would likely have actually encompassed more than 1.3 million illegal migrants, would have served as a beacon to encourage even more illegal migration, and would grant recipients an unfair advantage over other migrants who went through the proper legal process to enter the country and gain permanent resident status or citizenship.

"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris created a crisis at the southern border, leaving the American people to pay the consequences," AG Bailey said in a statement. "In the wake of the federal government’s refusal to act, states like Missouri had no choice but to step in and take action to secure our southern border. We filed suit to ensure millions of unvetted individuals are not invading our communities."

Border and immigration a reason Harris "lost big" to Trump

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of Tuesday's election, in which President-elect Trump defeated VP Harris by a decisive margin, Sky News sent a reporter to a border town in Arizona to find out whether immigration and border security were as big of an issue there as they were in polls before and after the election.

One longtime resident of Nogales, Arnoldo Montiel, 80, said he voted for Trump in large part because of the immigration issue. "These are people who are illegal. They don't belong in the United States. If they need to come in, we welcome them. But they have to be legal," he said and added of Harris, "Why do you think she lost big? The border and foreign affairs."

Interestingly enough, Montiel's wife, Lupita, who also voted for Trump, previously lived on the Mexican side of the border but went through the legal process to enter America and become a citizen. She said the Biden-Harris policies on the border and immigration were "horrible" and that they "just let everybody come in, there's been crimes, there's been murder."

On the other hand, the reporter also spoke to a young woman named Corrina who voted for Harris because she is worried that her Mexican husband, who is going through the legal process to enter the country, might be denied under the new Trump administration. She said, "I want my family to be together and I want a better future for my daughter," and added, "I just hope everything works out eventually."