The administration of President Joe Biden is considering a proposal that could pave the way for the regularization of the legal status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
According to CBS News, five people familiar with the initiative reported that the White House would grant work permits and protection against deportation to certain unauthorized immigrants through the immigration parole authority, as long as they have spouses who are US citizens.
The policy, known as "parole in place," would allow beneficiaries to overcome obstacles in US legislation by being able to opt for permanent residence in the US and ultimately, even citizenship, as pointed out by the news portal.
The sources indicated that the final details of the Biden administration's proposal have not been approved or finalized.
However, they clarified that the initiative would probably benefit undocumented immigrants who have been living in the United States for years, not newly arrived ones.
Angelo Hernández Fernández, White House spokesperson, told CBS News that "we continue to explore a series of political options, and we remain committed to taking action to address the flaws in the immigration system."
This would be Biden's latest ambitious measure to unilaterally act on immigration amidst decades of congressional deadlock on this issue, as pointed out by the news website.
He also pointed out that recently, "in the toughest policy enacted by a Democratic president," Biden invoked his executive authority to ban asylum for the majority of immigrants at the border between the United States and Mexico.
The new measure, currently under consideration, would benefit a significant number of undocumented individuals, as it is estimated that 11 million unauthorized immigrants live in that nation, according to federal government estimates and research groups. It is estimated that 1.1 million of them have spouses who are U.S. citizens, CBS News stressed.
Politicians and lawmakers believe that this initiative would encourage some voters to lean towards Biden in the upcoming presidential elections in November.
Surveys conducted over the years have shown that Latino voters widely support border security measures and programs to legalize unauthorized immigrants who have been living in the United States for years," the quoted portal stated.
However, he pointed out that if approved, "the plan would likely face legal challenges."
In this regard, he pointed out that the Biden administration has already faced some lawsuits from Republican state officials regarding its use of parole authority.
However, the current government has made unprecedented use of parole, invoking it to resettle hundreds of thousands of immigrants and refugees from Afghanistan, Latin America, Haiti, and Ukraine, according to CBS News.
This new initiative would use that same authority and alleviate the immigration issues for some people who are already in the United States.
Granting parole would allow unauthorized immigrants married to U.S. citizens to obtain temporary work permits and legal status.
“But perhaps the most important thing is that it would also allow some of them to overcome a provision of U.S. immigration law that prohibits immigrants from obtaining permanent legal status if they have not been officially admitted or have not been granted parole in the United States,” CBS News pointed out.
In this sense, immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, for example, often have to leave the country and re-enter legally in order to obtain a green card based on the petition of a U.S. citizen spouse.
But these undocumented individuals may face reentry bans in the U.S. that can last for years, leading some to avoid traveling abroad and choose that option.
According to CBS News: "The parole in place would give undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens the opportunity to become permanent residents in the U.S., if they meet other requirements, without having to leave the country."
The migratory measures recently approved by the Biden Administration have caused a collapse in the CBP One mobile application.
The system grants 1,450 appointments per day, and the Biden Administration ensured that it does not plan to increase them. The large number of people trying to use the platform has been causing technical issues for some time now. The situation is expected to worsen.
In this sense, the Democratic president assured that the possibility of applying for asylum "will continue to be available" for those seeking to legally immigrate to the United States and schedule an appointment through the CBP One application for an interview at a port of entry.
Recently, the president signed a group of executive actions that prevent irregular migrants from receiving asylum in the United States after crossing the border illegally.
The White House pointed out in an official statement that the "actions will be in effect when the high levels of encounters of illegal migrants at the Southern Border exceed the capacity to generate timely consequences."
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