US President Joe Biden is set to announce a new policy that would protect hundreds of thousands of undocumented spouses of US citizens from deportation, according to administration officials.
The action will benefit those who have been in the country for at least ten years and will allow them to lawfully work in the United States.
It is the most major relief programme for undocumented migrants already in the United States since the Obama administration introduced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or Daca, in 2012.
The White House anticipates that more than 500,000 spouses of US citizens will benefit, as well as 50,000 young people under the age of 21 whose parents are married to American citizens.
Earlier in June, Biden promised to make the US immigration system “more fair and just.”.
According to polls, immigration is a top issue for many Americans as the presidential election approaches in November.
The revelation comes ahead of an event on Tuesday commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Daca programme, which protected over 530,000 migrants brought to the United States as children, known as Dreamers, from deportation.
On Monday, senior administration officials stated that undocumented spouses of US citizens would be eligible if they had been in the nation for ten years and were married as of June 17.
Those who qualify will have three years to apply for permanent residency and will be eligible for a three-year work visa.
The White House believes that people eligible for the procedure have spent an average of 23 years in the United States.
The bulk of them will have been born in Mexico. They will be “paroled in place” and permitted to remain in the United States until their status is changed.
NumbersUSA, a group that lobbies for stricter immigration limits, condemned the new policy as “unconscionable.”
The White House also intends to streamline and expedite the immigration process for highly educated undocumented immigrants who have earned degrees from US colleges or have secured employment offers in their area, including Dreamers.
Biden’s declaration comes two weeks after he signed a broad executive order allowing US officials to promptly deport migrants who enter the country illegally without reviewing their asylum applications.
The White House stated in a statement that this will happen whenever a daily threshold is met and the border is “overwhelmed.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration last week, alleging that its actions violated US immigration law.
Biden urged individuals who believe the policy is “too strict” to “be patient” at the time of the announcement.
“In the weeks ahead, I will speak about how we can make our immigration system more fair and just,” he stated.
