How Biden’s immigration order shields undocumented spouses and children of citizens

Geoff Bennett:

President Biden today unveiled an executive action that offers deportation protections to undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens. The "NewsHour" first reported last week that the White House was expected to make the announcement.

At a White House event marking the 12 anniversary of DACA — that's the Obama era action that protects young undocumented immigrants — President Biden laid out his plans.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: For those wives or husbands and their children who have lived in America for a decade or more, but are undocumented, this action will allow them to file a paperwork for legal status in the United States, allow them to work while they remain with their families in the United States.

Let's be clear. This action still requires undocumented spouses to file all required legal paperwork to remain in the United States. It requires them to pass criminal background checks. And it doesn't apply to anyone trying to come here today.

Amna Nawaz:

The move comes after President Biden implemented a crackdown on migrants seeking asylum when border encounters cross a certain threshold.

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been covering this and joins me now.

So, Laura, you first broke the news last week that this executive action would be coming. It's now here.

Tell us a little bit more about what exactly this does for undocumented people in the U.S.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

President Biden said today that ultimately this is about keeping families together.

And this is the biggest relief action by a president, Amna, since the DACA program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, from 2012. And this uses a process called parole in place.

And so here's what key parts of the executive action do. It provides deportation protections for undocumented spouses and their children. It allows those undocumented spouses to obtain work permits. These spouses can then apply for permanent residence status without leaving the United States. And it also eases work visa processes for DACA recipients and dreamers.

Now, the crucial part of this, Amna, is that, previously, these undocumented spouses would have had to leave the country to obtain U.S. citizenship, and sometimes for a lengthy amount of time, as much as 10 years, separating themselves from their family. Now they're able to stay in the United States and legally work as they go on the process to legal citizenship.

Amna Nawaz:

We know the president has announced some eligibility requirements as well, so who exactly is eligible for these protections?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

When it comes to the undocumented spouses, they will be eligible if they meet the following requirements, living in the — they have lived in the United States for at least 10 years, if they are legally married by June 17 of 2024, and they have three years to apply for that permanent residency.

Then, when it comes to the dreamers, they are eligible if they have earned a degree from an accredited university and if they have received a high-skilled job offer in a field aligned with their degree. Now, unfortunately, some of the U.S. citizens that I spoke to who have spouses who are undocumented don't think that their spouses are going to be eligible, because a White House official said that some undocumented spouses will not be eligible if that spouse was deported even once.

So they may be — have been living in the United States for 10 years, but if they were deported once and returned, then they won't be eligible for this relief.

Amna Nawaz:

So, given all of those requirements, do we have any idea of how many people could be impacted by this executive action?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

We do. The White House gave some estimates for those who will be affected.

So, for the number of eligible affected, 500,000 undocumented spouses could be eligible for this benefit, 50,000 children under the age of 21 whose parent married a United States citizen, and then 90,000 dreamers could receive this benefit. That one is according to immigrant advocates' estimates, because the White House didn't provide estimates on how many dreamers could be affected.

This — now, it's important to understand that this doesn't immediately grant citizenship for these undocumented spouses. It could still take up to about five years for them to get citizenship.

But I spoke to Foday Turay, who's an undocumented lawyer. He's a DACA recipient who's been living in the United States for more than 20 years, married with a young son, and he would be eligible for this undocumented spouses benefit. And he said that, when he found that out, that his family, his wife and his mother screamed with joy.

Foday Turay, DACA Recipient:

Being undocumented, it's been very challenging. The emotional toll it has taken on my immediate family members that are a U.S. citizen, my mom currently, as of right now, my wife, my son, who's young.

And I want to be there to watch him grow and see him take his first steps. He's 10 months old. I want to be here to see him graduate from high school, just like any parent wishes. And this announcement today will allow me to take such a huge weight over my shoulder and be able to — for me to be able to adjust my status without facing the 10-year bar if I leave the country.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Foday Turay told me that today's announcement was an answered prayer, Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

Laura, I know, since the executive action was signed, you have been talking to your sources, tracking the reactions. What has been the response so far?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So the administration expects a number of legal challenges, but they say that they think they're on strong legal footing.

And I spoke to Lee Gelernt, who is an immigration lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, and he praised the administration's action today, saying that there's been too much demonization of immigrants. But he also said that the ACLU is still going to stick to its path of suing the administration when it comes to that other executive action that restricted asylum seekers.

Now, the Republican response, on the other hand, Amna, has been very swift. And Donald Trump's campaign was quick to call this a — quote — "amnesty program" and issued a statement that said: "Biden only cares about one thing, power. And that's why he is giving mass amnesty and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals who he knows will ultimately vote for him and the open border Democrat Party."

Amna, their — Trump's campaign is repeating essentially a lie that these undocumented immigrants are going to be able to vote by this election cycle, which is not possible, as I laid out before.

Amna Nawaz:

As we know, though, immigration and related issues are a top issue for Americans this election year.

What do we know that this could mean for President Biden politically?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Immigration has been a balancing act for President Biden, Amna.

On one hand, he issued that executive action that severely restricted asylum at the border and then two weeks later issued this new executive action that is being widely praised by Democrats within his own party.

And despite the fact that even our own polling with NPR and Marist shows that a majority of Americans think that Donald Trump would be better at handling immigration, there is some polling from Latino pollsters, like Equis Research, that shows that Latino voters in battleground states like Arizona and Nevada, that, when they were told about this potential action for undocumented spouses that Biden could take, they moved towards Biden by nine points.

And so, ultimately, this is something that Democrats across the board seem to think that could be a political boon for President Biden come November.

Amna Nawaz:

Laura Barron-Lopez, first to break the news on this executive action last week, continuing to report on it today.

Laura, thank you.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Thank you.