President Joe Biden is weighing potential executive actions to expand parole in place, which could provide temporary legal status to undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens. This potential parole in place rule aims to offer temporary status to many long-term U.S. residents, allowing them to gain deportation protection, work permits, and potentially a path to permanent legal status. The initiative, backed by advocacy groups, is designed to keep families together and bolster the economy.
The Biden immigration rule for spouses of U.S. citizens could significantly impact the lives of undocumented immigrants, offering them a chance to adjust status and integrate more fully into American society. By providing access to legal work permits and deportation protection, this rule would address some of the most pressing issues facing mixed-status families today.
Benefits of Parole in Place
Parole in place is a long-standing authority under Section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to grant parole into the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. This authority has been used in the past to keep families together, notably with a similar program for military families. Expanding this to include spouses of U.S. citizens could provide significant public benefit by ensuring that more families remain united and economically stable.
Eligibility Requirements Announced
The potential new rule would allow undocumented immigrants to apply for temporary legal status. Many undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens are currently barred from obtaining legal immigration status due to illegal immigration factors such as illegal border crossings or visa overstays. By offering temporary legal status, the Biden administration aims to mitigate these barriers and provide a more humane and practical solution.
Under current immigration law, many immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, such as spouses, face significant hurdles in adjusting status. The potential parole in place rule would provide access to a legal pathway, helping these individuals overcome existing legal barriers. This change is seen as a critical step in providing immigration relief to those who have lived in the shadows for years.
Impact on Mixed-Status Families
Mixed-status families, where one spouse lacks legal immigration status, often face severe challenges, including the constant threat of deportation. The potential parole in place rule would offer much-needed relief, allowing these families to stay together and contribute more fully to American society. This would be particularly beneficial for American families with citizen spouses, as it would help stabilize their lives and improve their economic prospects.
Support from Advocacy Organizations
Several advocacy organizations, including those mentioned in the media, have expressed strong support for the potential parole in place rule. They argue that providing access to legal status and work permits for undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens is both humane and economically sensible. These organizations highlight the significant public benefit of keeping families together and reducing the number of people living without legal status.
Political and Economic Considerations
With the November elections approaching, President Joe Biden is under pressure from democratic lawmakers and advocacy organizations to implement meaningful immigration reforms. The potential parole in place rule could be a significant move in this direction, offering a balanced approach to immigration relief that addresses both humanitarian and economic concerns.
Critics of the potential rule warn of false promises if the official plan lacks clear guidelines and effective implementation. However, the White House spokesperson has assured that the plan will be detailed and fair, aiming to avoid past mistakes in immigration law reforms. The construction company sector, among others, could benefit from the expanded labor force as undocumented immigrants gain work permits and contribute more fully to the economy.
Real-Life Impacts
Consider the story of a Pennsylvania resident, Maria, whose Brazilian-born husband has lived in the U.S. for years without legal status. Under the potential parole in place rule, he could obtain temporary status and a work permit, providing much-needed stability for their family. Similar stories abound across the country, highlighting the urgent need for this reform.
Next Steps
The White House is expected to release an official plan soon, detailing the eligibility requirements and implementation strategies for the potential parole in place rule. Advocacy organizations urge those affected to stay informed and engaged with the process to ensure their voices are heard.
In conclusion, President Joe Biden’s potential parole in place proposal offers hope for undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens. By providing temporary legal status and work permits, it aims to create a more inclusive and just immigration policy. This initiative could transform the lives of many American families, providing a pathway to permanent legal status and fostering a stronger, more united nation.
Stay informed with the latest updates from advocacy groups and the White House.
President Biden has proposed legislation that would legalize the presence of more than 11 million undocumented migrants now living in the United States. If the legislation is passed, most of these people will be able to seek permanent residence and eventually US citizenship. Trouble may be brewing, however. Thousands of more migrants, many of them unaccompanied children, are pouring over the southern border, overwhelming immigration detention facilities.
On the surface, President Biden appears to be facing a no-win situation. If he releases these migrants into the US to await their immigration court dates, they could disappear. At this point, he would be accused of administering what amounts to an “open borders” immigration policy. If, on the other hand, he detains these migrants in overcrowded immigration facilities, he will be accused of committing the same human rights abuses that his own party criticized Trump for.
Why Biden is Being Blamed?
President Biden´s political opponents have seized upon his promise of permanent residence and citizenship offer to undocumented migrants who are already in the US. They argue that it provides an incentive for migrants to sneak across the border and then just “wait it out” until the next immigration amnesty is offered. Republicans also accuse Biden of seeking eventual citizenship for Hispanic migrants because they historically tend to vote for Democratic candidates.
The Situation is Getting Worse
The crisis is growing worse, not better. In January 2021 about 80,000 people attempted to cross the southern border illegally, which amounts to about double the number that attempted to cross a year earlier, in January 2020. All of this has occurred despite the fact that the US has become the epicenter of a global pandemic since then.
Additionally, the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the US border has quadrupled since October 2020. With peak travel season hitting around May and June, it is difficult to forecast just how many migrants will be seeking entry to the United States.
Meanwhile, President Biden´s options are narrowing. To detain child migrants, US Customs & Border Protection is projected to need another 20,000 beds–not including the additional number of beds that will be needed to house adults. Most of these migrants come not from Mexico but from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. These migrants are fleeing for their lives–two-thirds report close family members kidnapped or killed back home.
Biden Ends Trump’s Disastrous “Remain in Mexico” Program
Tent cities had been popping up all over northern Mexico, an area that is home to numerous drug cartels that have turned Mexico into the home of some of the worlds most dangerous cities. The last migrants caught in the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” web left for the US on March 5, where their asylum cases will be processed. Another 40,000 returned home after their asylum applications were rejected.
An Alternative
Deterring these migrants through strict enforcement of US immigration laws, as the Trump administration sought to do, will not be easy. A more sensible way, to the extent that it is practically feasible, is to encourage migrants to apply for asylum in the US and then successfully process their cases as soon as possible.
Migrants who are represented by immigration attorneys, who apply for asylum in the US, are about 50 pércent likely to obtain the relief they seek if they are in detention why they apply. This rate rises to well over 60 percent if they are represented but have never been detained. Corresponding rates for unrepresented migrants hover well under 50 percent. If you are seeking entry to the United States, your best bet is to seek the services of an experienced US immigration lawyer.
According to recent estimates the United States hosts an astonishing 11 million undocumented immigrants. Not only is this number greater than that of any other country in the world, but it is also greater than the entire population of more than 100 countries, and it is easily larger than the population of any US city.
Deporting this many people within any reasonable time frame would mean chaos. Meanwhile, allowing these people to live indefinitely in legal limbo could be worse. A roadmap to eventual US citizenship would solve many of the problems created by undocumented immigration.
The Costs of the Current Regime
The current system of legal limbo punctuated by sporadic immigration enforcement initiatives generates both social and economic costs that are likely to be unacceptable to the American public in the long run.
Social Costs
The current legal limbo for undocumented immigrants carries immense social costs, not only for the immigrants themselves but for their families as well. Undocumented immigrant families are at the mercy of prevailing political winds, and the Trump administration has not been kind to them.
Over the past few years, for example, it has become almost a common occurrence for a US-born child (who the Constitution grants automatic US citizenship) to suffer the deportation of at least one of their parents.
This state of affairs puts these US citizen children into a difficult dilemma — return to a homeland they have never been to (and may not speak the language of) or stay in the US without one or even both parents.
Not only the children but also the US citizen or permanent resident spouses and partners of deported undocumented immigrants suffer from depression, poverty, and other social and psychological problems. Humanitarian concerns alone dictate that something must be done.
Piecemeal remedies
To be sure, efforts have been made to address some of the social costs of the presence of millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, for example, grants a forbearance against immigration enforcement, but not legal status, to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children.
The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program does the same for a different set of beneficiaries. Both programs, however, are lacking in a long-term solution. Some immigrant advocates even describe it as a throwback to the Jim Crow era of racial segregation.
The Shadow Economy
Regardless of whether their presence in the United States is considered legal or illegal, or whether they are legally allowed to work in the US, immigrants must eat and put a roof over their heads.
This reality inevitably creates a “shadow economy” where undocumented immigrants work illegally, often in abysmal conditions. Due to their illegal status, such people have no incentive to file tax returns — after all, paying taxes could get them deported.
Creating legal status for undocumented immigrants, with or without a path to citizenship, could bring these people into the light. It would also increase state and local tax revenues by an estimated $2.1 billion per year. Finally, it would bring these people under the administration of labor laws that protect both undocumented immigrants and US workers.
Reform Proposals
Proposals for the legalization of undocumented immigrants are split along party lines. It is well known that undocumented immigrants who become citizens have a strong tendency to vote for Democratic Party candidates rather than Republican Party candidates.
For this reason Republican lawmakers, whose approval might be necessary for any major overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, generally do not include citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Republican Proposals
Republican proposals would allow undocumented immigrants to live and work in the US. Undocumented immigrants would have to establish a priority date for permanent residence, which might mean qualifying for a green card in an independent basis and waiting years, even decades, for a green card that could actually lead to citizenship.
Democratic Proposals
Democratic proposals would generally allow undocumented immigrants to obtain US citizenship without having to apply for it independently. In other words, their current de facto residence in the US would be enough for eventual citizenship with no need to rely on educational or vocational qualifications or the presence of US citizen relatives in the US.
What Both Sides Agree on
Both sides agree that any legislation should not make it easier or quicker for undocumented immigrants to obtain immigration benefits, especially US citizenship, than for immigrants who came to the US legally. The reason for this consensus is that neither party wants to provide prospective immigrants with an incentive to enter the US illegally; nor does it wish to “double-cross” immigrants who came to the US legally.
Bipartisan legislation might even create a new type of permanent residency designed especially for undocumented immigrants. Three conditions will generally be required of would-be citizens under both Republican and Democratic reform proposals:
- Pay taxes (perhaps including back taxes); and
- Refrain from committing a felony.
Under such a proposal, obtaining US citizenship without an independent basis for it would take up to 18 years — the length of time that it takes a native-born US citizen to obtain full voting rights. Regardless of the exact terms that are included in reform legislation, it seems more likely than not that some sort of proposal offering legal status to undocumented immigrants is on the horizon.
Comprehensive (as opposed to piecemeal) immigration reform would require a drastic overhaul of the statutory basis for immigration law, and it would require the support of both houses of Congress. At the very least, a comprehensive immigration reform bill would need to address (i) long-term legal status for undocumented immigrants; (ii) border security; (iii) the H-1B visa program; and (iv) permanent residency based on a STEM degree.
Legal Status for Undocumented Immigrants in the US
An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States — no other nation hosts such a large number. The question of what to do with these immigrants (deport them, tolerate them, give them green cards, or allow them to seek citizenship) has become a hot political issue, especially on the question of citizenship, ever since it became clear that recent immigrants who become citizens overwhelmingly vote Democratic.
As a consequence, Democrats such as Obama are generally more favorable to providing these immigrants with a “road map to citizenship”, while Republicans such as Trump often seek to block even green card holders from obtaining citizenship (and therefore voting rights). The divided nature of the US government ensures that resolving this issue will be a challenge.
Border Security
In tandem with the question of what do do with 11 million undocumented immigrants is the question of how to secure the US border, especially the southern border with Mexico. Although some voices call for “open borders”, this idea is unlikely to win broad political consensus any time soon. Both political parties agree on the need for border control — the differences lie in what type of controls they want and how easy they want to make it to immigrate legally.
Realistically, border security will likely be used as a political football by the Republicans — any compromises with the Democratic agenda in other areas would have to be compensated by a corresponding compromise allowing for increased border security. These compromises might not even include completion of Trump’s border wall, since it is widely whispered that the wall does little to stop or deter illegal immigration, but is rather more of a political showpeice.
H-1B Reform
Over the years, the H-1B visa has been a boon to the US economy that much of the US seems oblivious to. While other countries are complaining of the exodus of their highly skilled laborers to the US and other countries, many in the US complain that employment-seeking immigrants “come over here and take our jobs.” The flaw in this reasoning is that jobs are not a zero-sum game. Elon Musk, for example, took a job — and created thousands more.
The Trump administration has been more hostile to the H-1B visa than any other administration. The Biden administration, by contrast, is leaving many with the impression that it will treat the H-1B visa even more favorably than the Obama administration did. At this point, all we can do is wait and see.
H-1B Quotas
The most obvious reform to the H-1B program is to increase the current quota of 65,000 visas per year to over a hundred thousand, or perhaps even several hundred thousand. As a compromise, the quota could be adjusted each year within a predetermined range based on the US unemployment rate. This increase would be designed to attract STEM workers, and it could apply even if the proposed STEM visa (see below) becomes law.
Permanent Residency for STEM Workers
The US labor force, like the labor forces of most nations, suffers from a chronic shortage of STEM-trained workers and entrepreneurs. The word “shortage” is perhaps misleading, however, since no amount of STEM-trained entrepreneurs will ever be enough — more is always better.
The proposed new STEM visa, if it is actually implemented, could represent one of the greatest innovations in immigration law ever conceived of.
One way in which a STEM visa would differ from the H-1B visa is green card availability. Although H-1B visa holders are allowed to apply for green cards, the H-1B itself does not lead to permanent residence. Most H-1B applicants seeking green cards apply under the EB visa program, which is plagued with low quotas and long backlogs.
By contrast, under the proposed STEM visa, a worker would be able to obtain a green card directly from STEM visa status. In addition, under current proposals any STEM visa quota would not be subtracted from the numbers available for other types of visas such as the H-1B, but would add to the total number of skilled workers who are eligible to enter the US.
Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The foregoing is a brief description of four of our nation’s most salient immigration reform needs. Ultimately, however, it is only the beginning of what needs to be considered for a comprehensive immigration reform package. Whether comprehensive immigration reform happens any time soon, and what it will look like when it does happen, is largely up to Congress, the makeup of which is largely dependent on the US electorate.