President Joe Biden is taking executive action to protect undocumented spouses of American citizens — a move that would shield about 500,000 immigrants from deportation.
The White House announced the election-year policy Tuesday, framing it as “new action to keep families together.” NBC News reported last week that action protecting the spouses was likely to be announced soon, after urging from immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers and as the president courts Latino voters in crucial battleground states.
The new policy would allow noncitizens who have been in the country for at least 10 years and are married to a U.S. citizen, and their children, to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country.
During a ceremony at the White House, Biden called the steps a “commonsense fix” to a system that is “cumbersome, risky and separates families.”
He said the order would go into effect this summer and stressed that it would not benefit people who recently came into the country. Instead, it would help people who are “paying taxes and contributing to our country” and their family members.
“This is the biggest thing since DACA,” said a source familiar with the matter, an immigration advocate.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, announced by then-President Barack Obama in 2012, allowed immigrants who illegally came to the U.S. as children to stay in the country.
Foreshadowing the likely battles to come over the policy, the White House was keen to stress that it has been tough on unlawful border crossings and has worked to dismantle people-smuggling networks.
The president “believes that securing the border is essential,” it said in a news release Tuesday outlining the new action.
“He also believes in expanding lawful pathways and keeping families together, and that immigrants who have been in the United States for decades, paying taxes and contributing to their communities, are part of the social fabric of our country,” the statement said.
The statement added that the spouses eligible to apply for this have been in the U.S. for 23 years on average.
The program would also make it easier for some undocumented immigrants to get a green card and a path to U.S. citizenship.
Sources also say that the undocumented spouses would be allowed to obtain work permits on a case-by-case basis.
The action includes plans to allow DACA recipients who earned degrees in higher education and are seeking a job in that same field to more quickly receive work visas.
