On Tuesday, President Biden announced a new executive action on immigration. Under his plan, certain undocumented people married to U.S. citizens will be eligible for relief from deportation, for work permits, and for a streamlined path to legal status. To qualify, they must have been continuously in the country for at least 10 years and married to a citizen by June 17, 2024.
This new executive action by the President is great policy and great political strategy. Unlike Biden's controversial June 4 measure restricting asylum at the border, his latest move rests on solid legal ground. It provides a reasonable fix to a Catch-22 feature of our immigration system. It will help keep families together, strengthen the economy, and bolster the President's re-election chances in November.
Many Americans may think that marrying a citizen automatically confers legal status on an immigrant spouse, like in the 1990 movie "Green Card." Unfortunately, such Hollywood stories are not true in real life. While a person who entered the country without authorization can marry an American, that does not guarantee the undocumented person lawful status. In many cases, the non-citizen spouse is required to return to their country of origin to apply for a green card. Leaving the U.S., however, can trigger a ban on re-entering the country for up to ten years.
It is this conundrum that Biden's executive order addresses. His action will eliminate the need for married couples to choose between staying together in the U.S., with one spouse at risk for deportation, or being apart for potentially years, with no guarantee of being able to reunite.
Biden has the right to take this action under an existing statutory authority known as Parole in Place. As stated in the Immigration and Nationality Act, the president's Homeland Security Secretary can admit people "in his discretion ... only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian relief or significant public benefit any alien applying for admission to the U.S."
Presidents from both parties have been using their parole authority on immigration for decades. Notably, the Parole in Place program has been used to allow undocumented U.S. military members and their immediate families to remain here while they adjust their immigration status.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that approximately 500,000 noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens could be eligible to access this process; on average, these noncitizens have resided in the United States for 23 years.
To be clear, these undocumented people are already eligible for green cards. Biden's plan just means they won't have to risk being separated for years to get them.
Under the president's new order, mixed-status couples will be able to stay together, without the fear of the undocumented spouse being deported. The deportation protection is especially important as Texas and other states have passed laws cracking down on undocumented people.
Biden's executive action is politically smart. He is keeping a promise he made just a few weeks ago, when he said, "For those who say the steps I've taken (on immigration) are too strict, I say to you to be patient ... In the weeks ahead, I will speak to how we can make our immigration system more fair and just."
This order is indeed "more fair and just." It will likely be popular with progressives, independents, and Latinos, because it is a common-sense solution that provides a balance to Biden's more restrictive immigration moves. With the first presidential debate coming up on June 27, this is also a way for Biden to draw a contrast between himself and Donald Trump. Biden can say he is in favor of keeping families intact, while pointing out that Trump has promised mass detentions and deportations.
No doubt, Republicans will decry this move as "amnesty" and claim that Biden is in favor of "open borders." But the new plan only applies to undocumented spouses who have been here for a decade, and they must be approved on an individual basis. This represents an incremental yet important tweak to our system that can change lives. It will enable more people to come out of the underground economy and contribute fully to the country.
Besides, there is virtually nothing that the President can do on immigration that conservatives would endorse, so he might as well take constructive steps on his own. And Biden deserves credit for recognizing that immigration is a complex issue that should not be synonymous with border security alone.
Biden's latest executive action is sensible, legal, and humane. Families belong together—and the President is right to create a path for people to be with those who they love.
Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and contributor to NBC Latino and CNN Opinion. Follow him on instagram at : @raulareyes1.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
