President of the United States Joe Biden has proposed executive actions aimed at preventing the deportation of spouses and children of US citizens who are unauthorized immigrants.
According to Biden’s acts, some illegal spouses and US citizen children who have resided continuously in the nation for at least ten years would be able to petition for lawful permanent residency without having to leave the country.
According to a senior administration official, the decision will also offer legal status and protections to approximately 500,000 American families and roughly 50,000 noncitizen offspring of immigrants under 21 whose parent is married to a US citizen.
At a Tuesday afternoon gathering at the White House commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Obama-era program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which shielded over 800,000 immigrants brought to the country as children in 2012, Biden made this announcement.
He referred to it as “the right thing to do” and a “common sense fix.”
Two weeks prior, Biden had issued a second executive action that would restrict access to asylum at the southern border. This action includes protections for spouses of citizens.
Biden declared, “We can both provide legal pathways to citizenship and secure the border.” “I’m interested in fixing it, not in playing politics with the border and immigration.”
An unauthorized individual who enters the country and marries a US citizen is required by current federal law to first request parole before applying for legal residency.
However, as a punishment for breaking immigration laws, the great majority of those who enter the country illegally and get married must return home and are barred from doing so for a minimum of ten years.
According to a White House fact sheet, the applicant must be lawfully married to a US citizen and have been in the country for at least ten years in order to be eligible for the program. By summer’s end, the application procedure will be open.
Getting a green card, also referred to as lawful permanent residency, enables immigrants to live and work in the US legally. However, holders with green cards are not eligible to vote in US federal elections.
Despite claiming on Tuesday that he was “not interested in playing politics” about the border, Biden still used the occasion to criticize the actions of his predecessor.
Biden stated, “He tore families and kids apart at the border when he was president. And now he wants to take children and wives away from their towns, homes, and families and put them in prison camps. It’s strange to think that he is genuinely saying these things aloud, yet he is.
Last week, the president hinted at the plan while admitting that some of his measures had angered many immigration activists.
“I say to those who say that the steps I’ve taken are too strict: please be patient,” stated Biden. “I will discuss how we can improve the fairness and justice of our immigration system in the coming weeks—and I mean the coming weeks.”
Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, praised Biden’s new executive order in a CNN interview.
“Family togetherness is the key. This nation is built on that ethic and ethos, and we shall reap great benefits from it. He declared, “We will maintain families together, even the illegal spouses who have made so many diverse contributions to our nation.
“It’s simple: Families belong together. In a statement, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said, “That’s why President Biden’s actions today (Tuesday) are so important, and it’s also a powerful stark reminder of Donald Trump’s unforgivable legacy of ripping crying children away from their parents when he put in place his family separation policy.”
Immigration experts point out that those impacted by the change can now apply from within the US for green cards even though they are already eligible due to their marital status.
In the past, applicants had to be foreign nationals who had been outside the US for ten years if they had entered the country illegally.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the change in status may affect up to 550,000 people, and enabling those people to pursue higher-paying employment may have significant positive economic effects.