Since the beginning of his term, President Biden has urged Congress to secure the border and reform the failed immigration system. While congressional Republicans have prioritized partisan politics over national security, rejecting the most significant and fair reforms in decades twice, the president and his administration have taken steps to secure the border, such as:
- Implementing executive measures to ban asylum for immigrants crossing illegally through the southern border when interception numbers are high;
- Deploying a record number of law enforcement personnel, infrastructure, and technology to the southern border;
- Seizing unprecedented amounts of fentanyl at entry ports;
- Revoking visas for executives and foreign government officials benefiting from illegal immigration to the U.S.; and
- Expanding efforts to dismantle human trafficking networks and prosecute those who violate immigration laws.
President Biden believes in securing the border while expanding legal pathways and keeping families together. He also supports immigrants who have been in the United States for decades, paying taxes and contributing to their communities. His immigration reform plan, introduced to Congress on his first day in office, reflects the need for a secure border and protection for long-standing undocumented immigrants. Despite Congress not acting on these reforms, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to strengthen the legal immigration system. This includes vigorously defending DACA, expanding Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA beneficiaries, and establishing new family reunification programs.
However, more efforts can be made to provide stability to mixed-status families and Dreamers. Therefore, President Biden has announced new measures to keep American families together and allow more young people to contribute to the economy.
Keeping American families together
Today, President Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security will take steps to ensure that U.S. citizens with non-citizen spouses and children can remain united with their families. This new process will allow certain non-citizen spouses and children to apply for lawful permanent residence, to which they are already entitled, without having to leave the country. These measures will promote family unity and strengthen the economy, benefiting the country and helping U.S. citizens and their non-citizen relatives stay together. To qualify for these measures, non-citizens must have resided in the U.S. for 10 years or more before June 17, 2024, be legally married to a U.S. citizen, and meet all relevant legal requirements. On average, eligible individuals have resided in the U.S. for 23 years. Those approved after DHS evaluation will have three years to apply for permanent residence, allowing them to remain with their families in the U.S. and apply for a work permit for up to three years. This action will protect approximately half a million spouses of U.S. citizens and around 50,000 non-citizen children under 21 with parents married to U.S. citizens.
Facilitating the visa process for U.S. university graduates, including Dreamers
President Obama and then-Vice President Biden established DACA to allow young people brought to the U.S. as children to come out of the shadows and make significant contributions to the country. Twelve years later, DACA recipients, who started as high school and college students, are building successful careers and starting their own families. Today's announcement will allow those, including DACA beneficiaries and other Dreamers, who have earned a degree from a U.S. institution of higher education and received a job offer in a field related to their degree, to receive work visas more quickly and securely. Recognizing that it is in the national interest to ensure that those educated in the U.S. can use their skills to benefit the country, the Administration is taking steps to streamline the processing of employment visas for university graduates with job offers in highly skilled fields, including DACA beneficiaries and other Dreamers.
Source: www.whitehouse.gov
