President Joe Biden announced a plan Tuesday to provide immigration relief to spouses of U.S. citizens and facilitate work visas for Dreamers, a move that could affect half a million people nationwide and tens of thousands of Houston-area residents.
The new policy, timed with 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 Homeland Security said in a statement.
Immigrant rights organizations overwhelmingly lauded the measure for its impact on “mixed-status” families and its resounding message of support to long-time immigrants during a key election year.
“This is a really exciting process that could affect such a large number of people,” said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, associate policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute’s U.S. Immigration Policy Program. “It's in line with the values of the U.S. immigration system, which is first and foremost meant to be about family unity.”
How it affects Houston
The executive action could impact up to tens of thousands of Houston area residents, according to Houston-based immigrants rights organization FIEL Houston. The organization celebrated the announcement, which is the biggest immigration relief since President Barack Obama announced DACA in 2012.
“We welcome these reprieves while renewing our commitment to making sure that we continue to work to achieve a comprehensive plan,” Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston, said in a statement.
Yolanda Batz, a 22-year-old recent University of Houston nursing graduate, recently received a job offer to work at a Houston hospital, but didn’t have the work authorization to be able to accept. Under the new policy, she could be eligible for a work visa.
“If it were to actually happen, it would be major for me,” said Batz, who is currently working at a restaurant. “This type of executive order would allow me to at least start working as a registered nurse, which is a much better use of my skills than what I’m currently doing.”
But she criticized the action for leaving many behind. An estimated 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants live in the U.S., including 577,000 in the Houston area.
“It’s bittersweet to know that I’ll be able to work but my mom will still have no pathway towards legalization,” Batz said.
Who is eligible
The executive action will shield 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 that some immigrants leave the country for their application to be processed. Some face a 10-year-ban on reentry when they leave.
Spouses must have resided in the U.S. for at least 10 years to be eligible for the new program. The benefits extend to undocumented children of parents who are married to a U.S. citizen.
The plan also facilitates visas for DACA recipients and other immigrants who have graduated from a U.S. college or university and have received a high-skilled job offer.
The announcement comes as polls show a tight race between Biden and former President Donald Trump in the lead up to Nov. 5 elections. Immigration has been a point of criticism for Biden, whose tenure has seen unprecedented levels of global migration. Republicans, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have claimed Biden has shirked his responsibility to control immigration at the U.S-Mexico border.
Two weeks ago, Biden announced a major change to asylum processing at the border, emphasizing the need to “secure the border.” Now he is coupling changes to border policy with relief for long-term residents.
“While enforcement at the border is really top of mind, we know that there's a huge population of people within the U.S. who don't have status,” Putzel-Kavanaugh said. “This is a testament to looking at the immigration system as a whole and trying to repair some of the issues within it at all levels of the system.”
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