President Joe Biden will announce a proposal to provide illegal alien spouses of U.S. citizens with a path to citizenship and legal work status.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Joe Biden will announce today a new program aimed at providing a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens. This large-scale legalization effort contrasts sharply with Republican rival Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations.
The program, expected to roll out in the coming months, will be available to an estimated 500,000 spouses who have lived in the United States for at least ten years as of June 17. Additionally, around 50,000 children under 21 with a U.S.-citizen parent will also be eligible, according to senior Biden administration officials during a call with reporters on Monday. The majority of the beneficiaries are expected to be Mexicans.
Under the new policy, these spouses and children can apply for permanent residence without leaving the U.S., avoiding potentially lengthy processes and family separation. They will eventually be able to apply for U.S. citizenship.
President Biden, a Democrat seeking a second term, entered office with a promise to reverse many of the restrictive immigration policies of his predecessor, Trump. However, faced with record levels of migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden has adopted a tougher stance on border enforcement in recent months.
Earlier this month, Biden barred most migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border from requesting asylum, a policy mirroring a similar Trump-era asylum ban. This new legalization program could reinforce Biden’s campaign message of supporting a more humane immigration system, distinguishing his approach from Trump’s hardline stance on both legal and illegal immigration.
Biden is set to make this announcement at a White House event commemorating the anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was launched in 2012 by former President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden. The DACA program currently provides deportation relief and work permits to 528,000 individuals brought to the U.S. as children. Additionally, the administration is expected to introduce guidance that could simplify the process for DACA recipients to obtain skilled-work visas.
U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat, who will attend Tuesday’s event, highlighted that the relief for spouses is a way to balance out recent border enforcement measures. Meanwhile, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt labeled Biden’s new program as “amnesty” and reiterated Trump’s pledge to “restore the rule of law” if re-elected.
Public opinion on the issue remains divided. Reuters/Ipsos polling indicates that a little more than half of U.S. voters support deporting all or most undocumented immigrants. Conversely, polling by the advocacy group Immigration Hub found that 71% of voters in seven battleground states supported allowing spouses who have been in the U.S. for more than five years to remain.
Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, emphasized that their focus groups found support for legal status for spouses among independent and Republican voters. “It boosts turnout in terms of Latino and base voters, but it also has support with the middle and the right,” Shi noted during a call with reporters on Monday.
One couple eagerly awaiting the policy’s details is Megan, a social worker from Wisconsin, and her husband Juan. Juan, who has been in the U.S. illegally, met Megan two decades ago. The couple has two daughters and has struggled to find a way to legalize Juan’s status. Megan expressed her constant concern over the possibility of Juan being deported, potentially uprooting their family.
The Biden administration’s proposal aims to alleviate such fears by providing a clearer, more compassionate path to legal status and citizenship for undocumented spouses and their families.