In an unexpected move last week, a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump dismissed a challenge to President Joe Biden's migrant policy. 

As Newsweek explained, the case concerns a program which has allowed almost a quarter million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the United States.

Program challenged by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

The plan allows up to 30,000 migrants per month to come in for a two year period, during which they are expected to seek asylum.

Participants must cover the cost of their own airfare and be sponsored by someone who is already in the United States.

The program faced a legal challenge filed last year by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a coalition of other Republican leaders, who argued that it violates immigration law.

Yet his a ruling this past Friday, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton found that Texas lacked standing to bring the lawsuit.

DHS data shows illegal entry from named countries went down by almost 44%

Specifically, Tipton determined that the plaintiffs had failed to show they had suffered harm as a result of the migrant program.

In support of this conclusion, the judge pointed to data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which showed that illegal entry of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela had gone down "by as much as 44%" since the program had been implemented.

The challengers did not dispute those findings, leading Tipton to write, "Plaintiffs, therefore, are unable to demonstrate that they have been injured by the Program, and as a result, they lack standing to bring these claims."

"The Court finds that Plaintiffs have not proven that Texas has suffered an injury and therefore do not have standing to maintain this suit," he added.

Tipton went on to stress that while the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the program, his ruling did not address whether or not it is lawful.

Judge previously blocked Biden administration's attempt to pause deportations

Newsweek noted that Tipton, who was nominated by Trump in 2020, "previously had a history of ruling against Biden's immigration policies."

One example came in January of 2021 when he blocked the president's attempt at pausing the deportation of some illegal migrants.

Tipton wrote that the "Court finds that the threat of injury to Texas outweighs any potential harm to Defendants" and added that he found the Biden administration's justifications to be "unpersuasive."