Biden unveils new approach to prevent deportation of undocumented spouses of US citizens

President Biden announces new policy protecting undocumented spouses of US citizens from deportation, allowing them to apply for residency and work permits. The action will benefit over 500,000 individuals who have lived in the US for at least 10 years.

US President Joe Biden is planning to introduce a major new immigration plan that will grant legal protection to around 300,000 married immigrant couples. The move, declared by the high-ranking officials of the administration, will concern those who arrived in the United States before June 17, 2010 and have been living in the country for at least 10 years, allowing them to work for American employers legally.

According to the new policy, the eligible spouses will be given a three year window within which they can apply for permanent residence and will be granted a three-year work permit. According to the White House, this measure will affect 500,000 spouses of US citizens and 50,000 young people under the age of 21 whose parent is a citizen of the United States. In general, those qualified have lived in the United States for 23 years and the largest number of them were born in Mexico.

The move is the largest relief program for undocumented immigrants already in the US since the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012. It comes ahead of an event marking the 12th anniversary of DACA, which has benefitted over 530,000 “Dreamers” who came to the US as children from deportation risks.

While some anti-Obama policy organizations have accused the policy of being an expansion of executive authority, immigration organizations view it as a necessity of making the immigration system fair for a portion of the immigrant population who have had difficulties legalizing their status in the United States, despite their eligibility. This will be by the end of summer, and the application process is expected to begin soon.

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The new policy announcement comes after a recent contentious executive order enabling certain officials to rapidly deport migrants arriving in the US unlawfully without considering asylum applications as soon as a specified daily cap is reached. The Biden administration has sought to respond to criticism of its policies with regards to both initial encounters at the border and the existing population of undocumented immigrants struggling to find their way through the legal maze.