Biden Extends Protections To Undocumented Spouses Of US Citizens and High Skill Dreamers

On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, speaking from the East Room of the White House during the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, President Biden announced an executive order to legalize more than half a million families and college graduates. Courtesy: whitehouse.gov.

Twelve years after the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was launched during former President Obama’s administration, today President Joe Biden announced new measures to benefit thousands of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for many years, including those with higher education degrees.

The announcement was made in the East Room of the White House, along with members of the Congregational Hispanic Caucus (CHC), including press personnel and activists who arrived to support President Biden’s executive actions to help immigrants such as Javier Quiróz Castro, a nurse, and DACA beneficiary who is married to a US citizen.

“Growing up undocumented, it was not easy,” said Quiróz. “Like thousands of other immigrants, my parents endured hard labor in order to provide for the family. They are a symbol of the American dream.”

Higher education became a key role that President Biden emphasized in giving the green light to his executive actions, which he believes will strengthen the economy by using the academic skills of these dreamers who have achieved higher education goals.

“So, today, I’m announcing new measures to clarify and speed up work visas to help people, including DREAMers, who have graduated from U.S. colleges and universities, landed jobs in high-demand, high-skilled professions that we need to have grow, see our economy grow”, said Biden. “It’s the right thing to do.”

The other section of President Biden’s immigration relief is to legalize more than 500,000 undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who have lived in the country for at least 10 years and are legally married before June 17, 2024.

It is worth mentioning that there is already a law for this particular scenario, enacted in 1952 under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which has been modified since then.

Under the current process, undocumented spouses of American citizens have to return to their home country to complete paperwork and obtain long-term legal status.

This means they must leave their families in the United States without any guarantees they will be readmitted to the country.

Thus, thousands of spouses prefer not to apply for a work permit so as not to leave their children abandoned, instead, they opt to live in the shadows with the constant fear of being deported without the ability to stay and work legally.

“If the American consulate, by Ciudad Juárez, does not grant me permission to return to my citizen husband, then our children would suffer separation, and who knows for how long,” said Navarrete, a Houston resident. “I prefer to continue living like this until something better comes out, like this news that you are giving me. I will do it, of course I will.”

That is exactly what President Biden wants to eliminate with his power, not allowing families to be separated by laws that do not guarantee the unity of all members of a family.

“Today, I’m announcing a commonsense fix to streamline the process for obtaining legal status for immigrants married to American citizens who lived here for a long time,” said Biden. “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 the paperwork for legal status in the United States, allow them to work while they remain with their families in the United States.”

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), spouses of American citizens will be able to get a work permit for three years, then, they can apply for Legal Permanent Residence (LPR), and once they complete their five years with LPR, they can become U.S. citizens.

For dreamers, more instructions are expected from the federal government in the coming weeks.

Last updated on August 26, 2024 by Ramón Warini