President Biden has announced a new large-scale immigration program that will provide legal status and a streamlined path to U.S. residency and citizenship for approximately 500,000 unauthorized immigrants who are married to American citizens. The program, known as “Parole in Place,” will allow these immigrants to apply for work permits and deportation protections if they have been living in the U.S. for at least 10 years and meet other requirements. The initiative does not apply to future migrants and will go into effect later this summer, requiring spouses to file necessary paperwork and pass a criminal background check.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that unauthorized immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses who qualify for the program have been in the country for an average of 23 years and must have been legally married to their American citizen spouse by June 17. Individuals deemed to pose a threat to national security or public safety will not be eligible for the program. President Biden announced this initiative during an event commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which offers deportation protections to minors brought to the U.S. as children.
The new program is expected to provide a path to permanent residency, or a green card, and ultimately U.S. citizenship for many of its beneficiaries. This policy, if upheld in court, would be the largest government program to protect undocumented migrants since DACA. The current federal law requires immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally to leave the country and re-enter legally to be eligible for a green card, which often triggers a 10-year ban if they have lived illegally in the country for certain periods of time. The Biden administration’s initiative will allow eligible immigrants to obtain a green card without leaving the U.S., and after five years of being a green card holder, they can apply for American citizenship.
President Biden emphasized the importance of both securing the border and providing legal pathways to citizenship, rejecting the false choice that one must be sacrificed for the other. He criticized his predecessor and 2024 opponent, asserting that the U.S. can embrace immigration while also maintaining border security. The president highlighted that the Statue of Liberty symbolizes American values and called for acknowledging and addressing the fears of the American people regarding immigration. He expressed his commitment to both securing the border and offering opportunities for immigrants to gain legal status and citizenship.
