fbpx

President Biden: “New Actions to Keep Families Together”

President Biden announced two directives for the Department of Homeland Security that will keep American families together as they apply for permanent lawful status and streamline the waiver process for work visas to eligible DACA recipients and dreamers. 

  • Parole-In-Place 

The first directive announced Parole-In-Place for noncitizen spouses of US citizens and their children. This means that qualifying noncitizen spouses can apply for parole in place, receive work authorization, and apply for adjustment of status all while remaining together with their family in the United States as they wait for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency to process their application for a green card. 

The current process for noncitizen spouses married to US citizens requires that they go through consular processing as managed by the Department of State. This requires that families apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver that has a high hardship standard to meet, and is currently taking USCIS almost 4 years to process. 

If the provisional waiver is approved, families are required to travel to their country of origin for a consular interview, and seek reentry as a permanent resident. The provisional waiver is not a guarantee of reentry and families risk being separated if the bar to reentry is imposed or if they are referred to deportation proceedings. 

  • Streamline Work Visa Process for DACA and Dreamers

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients or Dreamers who have the educational credentials to qualify for an employment based visa are required to apply for what is referred to as a D-3 waiver. This waiver requires that applicants travel outside the US and wait long periods of time before they can seek reentry. Additionally, they risk the bars to reentry being imposed upon them.

President Biden’s directive would provide clarifying guidance language to streamline this process for DACA and Dreamers to access such employment based visas more readily. 

 

Dismantling Barriers Created by Our Own Laws

The White House estimates that approximately 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens will meet these criteria and will thus be eligible to apply for the new parole program.” 

Parole-In-Place for noncitizen spouses of US citizens is a step in the right direction to removing barriers created by our own immigration laws. The United States immigration system and its laws are complex, often involving several different agencies adjudicating different forms and requirements. The 3 and 10 year bars to reentry for unlawful presence are examples of seemingly simple laws in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that complicate the immigration process and, I argue, perpetuate the undocumented status of noncitizens who would otherwise be able to adjust their status to that of a lawful permanent resident.

While these Executive Orders are immediate fixes that will benefit America and many American families and DACA recipients, it is still possible for legal challenges to ensue and jeopardize these orders as is currently the case for DACA. For this reason, Congress must prioritize passing a much overdue comprehensive immigration reform once and for all since a complete overhaul of our immigration system is highly unlikely. 

 

RESOURCES

 

ACTION 

Watch my short vlog explanation below on President Biden’s announcement of two directives that will keep families together and streamline the immigration process for work visas for DACA recipients and Dreamers.