Biden announces immigration relief for spouses of US citizens

President Joe Biden announced a plan Tuesday to make it easier for spouses of U.S. citizens to immigrate and to make it easier for Dreamers to obtain work visas, a move that could affect half a million people nationwide and tens of thousands of Houston area residents.

The new policy, timed on the twelfth anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, will support the administration’s “commitment to keeping families together,” the Department of Defense said. Homeland Security in a press release.

Immigrant rights organizations overwhelmingly praised the measure for its impact on “mixed-status” families and its resounding message of support for longtime immigrants during a key election year.

“This is a really exciting process that could impact so many people,” said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute’s U.S. Immigration Policy Program. “This corresponds to the values ​​of the American immigration system, which aims above all at family unity.”

How it affects Houston

The executive action could impact tens of thousands of Houston-area residents, according to the Houston-based immigrant rights organization FIEL Houston. The organization celebrated the announcement, which is the largest immigration relief since President Barack Obama announced DACA in 2012.

“We welcome these reprieves while renewing our commitment to ensuring that we continue to work toward a comprehensive plan,” Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston, said in a statement.

Yolanda Batz, 22, a recent nursing graduate from the University of Houston, recently received a job offer to work at a Houston hospital, but did not have work authorization to accept it. Under the new policy, she could be eligible for a work visa.

“If this were to actually happen, it would be major for me,” said Batz, who currently works at a restaurant. “This type of executive order would at least allow me to start working as a registered nurse, which is a much better use of my skills than what I am currently doing.”

But she criticized this action because it leaves many people behind. An estimated 10.5 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, including 577,000 in the Houston area.

“It’s bittersweet knowing that I will be able to work but my mother will still have no path to legalization,” Batz said.

Who is eligible

The executive action will protect spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation and provide work permits and a path to residency, the White House announced Tuesday. The program removes current barriers to legalizing status through marriage, which requires some immigrants to leave the country for their applications to be processed. Some risk a re-entry ban for 10 years upon their departure.

Spouses must have resided in the United States for at least 10 years to be eligible for the new program. Benefits extend to undocumented children whose parents are married to a U.S. citizen.

The plan also makes it easier to grant visas to DACA recipients and other immigrants who have graduated from a U.S. college or university and received a high-skilled job offer.

The announcement comes as polls show a tight race between Biden and former President Donald Trump ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Immigration has been a subject of criticism for Biden, whose term in office has seen unprecedented levels of global migration. Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, claimed Biden had avoided his responsibility to control immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Two weeks ago, Biden announced a major change in the processing of asylum claims at the border, emphasizing the need to “secure the border.” It now combines changes to border policy with relief for long-term residents.

“While enforcement at the border is a priority, we know that there is a huge population of people in the United States who lack status,” Putzel-Kavanaugh said. “It speaks to the desire to look at the immigration system as a whole and try to solve some of its problems at all levels of the system.”

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