WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week, the Biden administration announced a new program that aims to provide a streamlined path to legal status for the spouses and children of American citizens. Over half a million people could benefit from this program, which constitutes the largest-scale immigration policy for undocumented immigrants since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — also known as the “Dream Act” — passed by the Obama administration.
The “parole-in-place” program would offer green card status to undocumented family members of citizens with a few restrictions, including proof of residency for at least 10 years and a criminal background check. The policy only applies to people who have fulfilled the 10-year requirement on or before June 17, 2024.
On a press call moderated by Assistant Press Secretary Angelo Fernández Hernández last Monday, senior administration officials explained that the policy was aimed at preventing family separation. They also hope that the measure will ensure the safety of eligible undocumented people, who under current law are required to leave the United States before applying for legal residency — a reality that discourages many green-card-eligible people from seeking residency via legal means.
The program is slated to officially launch later this summer. The White House believes that the policy will have long-term effects that encourage economic growth by allowing large numbers of people with “deep family and community ties” to seek over-the-table work in the United States.
“Parole-in-place” will almost certainly not roll out as smoothly as the Biden administration would hope. The program could be significantly hindered by existing regulations which limit the number of green cards issued per year to 140,000 and place a cap on successful applications by nationality — no one country can make up more than 7% of the total green cards issued in a certain year.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is also still in the process of whittling down a historic backlog of applications — while the agency boasted a 15% backlog reduction last year, researchers estimate that 97% of 2024’s green card applicants will not receive one this coming year.
The president’s announcement rides on the heels of another major immigration-related policy implemented by the federal government earlier this month restricting asylum claims depending on the number of undocumented migrants apprehended at the border. The measures have been politically controversial, with critics on both sides of the aisle suspicious about the major announcements falling just ahead of election season.
While the White House blames Republicans for refusing to fix a “broken” immigration system, the right-hand side of the aisle has criticized the program, which is likely to face legal challenges from Republican states. (Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Biden administration more than a dozen times over immigration policies.)
Congressman Tony Gonzales, who represents the Big Bend, was one of the many conservatives not impressed by Biden’s announcements. “These new executive actions to grant amnesty come at a time when our country continues to be affected by illegal crossings and record levels of drug smuggling,” his office tweeted last Tuesday. “It is entirely tone-deaf and confirms that this administration has no intention of solving our border crisis.”