Illegal immigrants married to US citizens will receive protection from deportation

Illegal migrants married to US citizens will be protected from deportation, will receive work permits and, in the future, American citizenship, reports New York Times.

Photo: IStock

President Joe Biden will announce a major immigration program on the evening of June 18. This program will offer legal status and a streamlined path to green cards and U.S. citizenship to approximately half a million undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens.

These migrants will be allowed to apply for work permits and protection from deportation if they have lived in the US for at least 10 years and meet a number of other requirements that have not yet been announced.

In addition, Biden's move will open a path to green cards and US citizenship for beneficiaries of the DACA program (illegal immigrants brought to the US as children). There are now about 528 of them, who receive protection from deportation but must renew their status every two years.

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Marriage to a US citizen usually provides a path to US citizenship. However, people who crossed the U.S. southern border illegally would be required to return to their home country to complete the green card process. This would mean a long separation from family. The new program will allow family members to remain in the country while they obtain legal status.

Biden is trying to find balance on one of the most pressing political issues of 2024. Recognizing that many Americans want tougher policies on the border with Mexico, Biden just two weeks ago announced tough measures that would suspend long-standing guarantees of the right to asylum for anyone who sets foot on American soil.

Almost immediately after the decision was announced, White House officials began privately asserting that the president would, among other things, help illegal immigrants who have been in the country for many years.

Biden's new program is expected to be called Temporary Stay. Previously, a similar program was used for military families. “What the Biden administration is doing may be the most significant step to enact sensible immigration policies since DACA in 2012,” said Marie Urbina, a former senior aide to Sen. Harry Reid and managing director of the progressive nonprofit Indivisible.

Republicans have already criticized the policy.

“This is an attack on democracy,” Stephen Miller, who oversaw former President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies, wrote on social media Monday.

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But the move, according to the American Business Immigration Coalition, will help Biden gain support in key states such as Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, each of which has more than 100 voters living in “mixed-status” households.

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