The Biden administration is making plans to announce one of the largest immigration relief programs in recent history. developing a policy that would provide legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the country without proper documentation, four people familiar with the plans told CBS News.
A program being developed by White House officials would provide work permits and deportation protection to unauthorized immigrants married to U.S. citizens as long as they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal government plans to talk. .
The proposal, known as “Parole in Place,” would also pave the way to permanent legal status and U.S. citizenship for some beneficiaries by removing a barrier in U.S. law that prevents those who enter the U.S. illegally from obtaining a green card obtainable without leaving the country. .
Another plan being prepared by the Biden administration would streamline the process for so-called DREAMers and other undocumented immigrants to apply for waivers, making it easier for them to obtain temporary visas, such as H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, the sources said.
The measures, the sources added, could be announced as early as Tuesday, but a plan has not yet been finalized by the government. White House officials are preparing to host an event Tuesday to mark the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects about 530,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
Some Democratic lawmakers have already been invited to Tuesday’s immigration event at the White House, three congressional officials told CBS News, requesting anonymity to share private invitations.
A White House official said no final decisions have been made. White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said earlier that the administration was “committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system.”
The “Parole in Place” plan would be the largest immigration program for unauthorized immigrants since DACA, a policy that former President Barack Obama announced in 2012 as an “emergency measure” to protect DREAMers in light of Congress’ inaction on the issue of immigration.
The policy would benefit a subset of the estimated 1.1 million unauthorized immigrants with spouses of U.S. citizens, as long as they meet the residency requirement and other rules. In total, about 11 million immigrants are living illegally in the U.S., according to the government’s most recent estimate.
The move would further underscore President Biden’s increased willingness to take executive action on immigration ahead of the November presidential election. Just last week, Mr. Biden invoked his executive power to introduce a partial ban on asylum applications on the southern border, a movement that has done just that already challenged in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Like the cross-border push, the Parole in Place program is likely to face legal challenges, possibly from Republican-led states, which have filed multiple lawsuits against Mr. Biden’s more generous immigration policies.
The program would almost certainly draw vocal opposition from Republican lawmakers, who are taking increasingly strong positions against “amnesty” for those living in the U.S. illegally.
“Biden’s border is still in crisis and his latest idea is amnesty. This will lead to more chaos,” said Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the lead Republican negotiator border security agreement mediated by the White House and a group of senators earlier this year.
Still, Mr. Biden has argued that he is acting unilaterally on immigration because Congress has failed to pass the deal, which was rejected by most Republican lawmakers. Political analysts also believe the “Parole in Place” policy could boost Biden’s chances of gaining more support from Latino voters, especially those in mixed-status families who would benefit from the measure.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that oversees the legal immigration system, has operated a more limited “Parole in Place” program for military families for more than a decade. The policy allows some undocumented immigrants who are immediate family members of U.S. service members or veterans to obtain green cards without having to leave the country.
