Biden Makes Stunning Citizenship Move for Illegal Immigrants
President Joe Biden is accelerating the path to citizenship for about half a million undocumented immigrants.
On Tuesday, Biden is set to unveil a program designed to streamline the process for undocumented immigrants who are married to American citizens, enabling them to apply for residency and then citizenship, according to The Washington Post.
While current policies allow for this process, individuals typically must leave the country to apply for legal admittance, a hurdle that Biden is eliminating.
The White House estimates that approximately 500,000 undocumented immigrant spouses and 50,000 undocumented immigrant stepchildren of U.S. citizens will be eligible to apply.
Biden continues his war on democracy. He is reportedly issuing a unilateral executive action—without approval from Congress—granting mass amnesty w/path to citizenship to large number of illegal aliens. This edict is illegal, unconstitutional and the conduct of a lawless tyrant. https://t.co/8ktJU9IYRL
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) June 18, 2024
To qualify, undocumented spouses must have resided in the country for at least 10 years. Stepchildren covered by the program must be under 21.
The administration anticipates that undocumented immigrants from Mexico will be the primary beneficiaries of the program, which allows eligible individuals three years to apply for residency, the Post reported. Following that, they can apply for citizenship within three years, reducing the usual five-year waiting period.
The White House released a “Fact Sheet” on Tuesday describing the plan as “Keeping Families Together.”
The New York Times highlighted the political advantage for Biden, who is trailing former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, in numerous election polls.
The Times noted that the new program could “help Mr. Biden in battleground states, like Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, each of which has more than 100,000 voters who live in ‘mixed status’ households, according to the American Business Immigration Coalition.”
Biden will celebrate his new policy at a Tuesday afternoon ceremony that underscores the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by former President Barack Obama, which courts have since ruled was an illegal bypass of Congress, according to the Post.
The Post also reported that Biden will announce a work-visa program for DACA enrollees working in the science and technology fields.
However, applicants for the DACA-linked program will need to leave the country to apply.
Even before the announcement, the America First Policy Institute criticized the plan, according to Fox News.
“While these so-called mixed-status families may elicit sympathies, our immigration laws have a process for illegal alien spouses of U.S. citizens to follow to absolve their violations — a process the Biden Administration is ignoring to ease the burden on illegal aliens,” said Robert Law of AFPI.
“This parole scheme could also be a starting point to ‘parole in place’ even larger, less sympathetic classes of illegal aliens, which would frustrate efforts by a future America First administration to enforce U.S. immigration law and remove illegal aliens from the country,” he added.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump condemned the plan.
“Biden is preparing to give MASS AMNESTY to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens!” the former president said. “This is unsustainable and can’t be allowed to continue!
“On day one, we will SHUT DOWN THE BORDER and start deporting millions of Biden’s Illegal Criminals. We will once again put AMERICANS First and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!”