Joe Biden on Tuesday announced an expansive new plan to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented spouses of US citizens, calling it a “commonsense fix” that would provide relief to more than half a million “mixed-status” families in the country.
The move comes as the Democratic president tries to strike a balance before the 5 November election: confronting rising public concern over the unprecedented levels of migration at the southern border, while appeasing progressive Democrats and Hispanic leaders furious over Biden’s aggressive asylum crackdown, which they likened to Trump-era policies.
The children of undocumented immigrants married to US citizens could also qualify under the new process.
Biden said the plan reflected his commitment to “keeping families together”, an effort to draw a clear distinction with Donald Trump, whose “zero tolerance” border policies separated thousands of children from their parents.
“This action is a better way,” the president said on Tuesday, surrounded by Democratic lawmakers and immigration rights advocates. “It doesn’t tear families apart.”
Biden unveiled his plans at a celebratory White House event marking the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or Daca, which shields from deportation nearly 530,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that approximately 500,000 undocumented spouses and 50,000 children under the age of 21 – the stepchildren of US citizens – could potentially benefit. According to the administration, those eligible for this process have resided in the US for an average of 23 years.
“Living in United States all this time with the fear and uncertainty,” Biden said. “We can fix that.” The East Room of the White House erupted in applause. “¡Si se puede!” an attendee shouted, after the president finished speaking.
Under the plan, undocumented immigrants who have resided in the US for 10 or more years, as of 17 June, and are legally married to a US citizen will be newly eligible to pursue legal status while living and working in the US. Couples do not need to have been married for any specific amount of time, but only those who meet the requirements as of Monday are eligible.
Marrying a US citizen typically opens a pathway to citizenship. But people who entered the country illegally must first leave the US before they can apply for permanent residency – a process that can take years. As a result, many choose to stay and risk deportation rather than leave their families. The policy essentially allows the government to “admit” these immigrants and begin the status-adjustment process in the US.
“The system doesn’t work like it does in the movies,” said Ashley DeAzevedo, the president of American Families United. “You don’t marry an American and automatically get a green card. There are laws in place that make it impossible for so many.”
“This is a defining moment in history, and we need to meet this moment,” DeAzevedo said.
Biden also detailed additional moves his administration is taking to streamline the employment visa process for certain undocumented college graduates, including Daca recipients and other Dreamers. To qualify, young people will have had to graduate from a US institution of higher education and have received a “high-skill job offer”, an official said.
Introducing Biden at the White House, Javier Quiroz Castro, a Daca recipient, thanked the president for helping to establish the program as Barack Obama’s vice-president.
“It allowed me to live and work and build a family in the only country I have ever known and loved,” said Castro, is now a nurse in Houston with a wife and two children.
Nanette Barragán, a California Democrat who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and attended the president’s White House announcement, said: “There will be tears of joy paired with sighs of relief as the significance of these executive actions by President Biden sets in for these families.”
The White House said it was taking unilateral action now after congressional Republicans repeatedly refused efforts to overhaul the immigration system and to allocate more resources to toughen enforcement at the border.
Earlier this year, Republicans blocked – at Trump’s behest – a bipartisan border deal that would have clamped down on asylum. The bill did not include provisions to expand paths to citizenship or work visas for the millions of undocumented people living in the US.
Politically, the spouses plan could help insulate Biden somewhat from accusations he has given in to hard-right Republican demands on border immigration, while potentially shoring up support among his progressive base.
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Following Biden’s asylum ban earlier this month, Vanessa Cárdenas, the executive director of the pro-immigration group America’s Voice, said Biden needed to show voters that there is a “bright line, clear contrast between the parties on immigration”.
Even before the details of Biden’s plan were made official, Republicans attacked the action as “amnesty”.
“Biden only cares about one thing – power – and that’s why he is giving mass amnesty and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals who he knows will ultimately vote for him and the Open Border Democrat Party,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, amplifying a claim about migrants and crime that is not supported by data.
“Biden has created another invitation for illegal immigration through his mass amnesty order.”
Trump has vowed to restore “order” along the southern border by carrying out mass deportations, part of a second-term agenda emboldened by polls showing disapproval of Biden’s handling of immigration. Though his hardline policies drew harsh criticism when he was in the White House, Americans now give the former president a wide advantage on the issue, as he makes inroads with Latino voters.
In his remarks, Biden assailed Trump for stoking anti-immigrant rhetoric, warning that the former president plans to expand upon his family separation policy by “proposing to rip spouses and children from their families and homes and communities and place them in detention camps”.
“He’s actually saying these things out loud, and it’s outrageous,” Biden said.
Legal challenges are anticipated. Republican-led states have challenged previous moves by the administration to expand legal pathways into the US.
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, accused Biden of “engaging in an election-year border charade” and anticipated it would be struck down in court.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the plan on Tuesday, saying it was “squarely within our legal authority”.
Advocates welcomed the action as the right thing to do and a savvy political move. Todd Schulte, the president of the immigration advocacy group FWD.us, said the policy for spouses were broadly popular, including among Republicans, in part because many people believed it was already the case.
“I think this is really great policy and great politics,” he said.
