President Joe Biden is taking a huge step to offer relief to immigrants without legal status, in the United States (U.S.). The White House announced that the U.S will allow certain spouses of citizens without legal status, to apply for permanent residency and subsequently apply for citizenship.
This announcement was made in celebration of the 12th Anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, initiated by the Obama administration, to temporarily protect undocumented children brought into the United States without authorization. Americans with undocumented spouses have expressed the fear of their spouses being deported and have therefore pushed for the Biden administration to grant relief to the more than 1.1 million undocumented spouses.
To qualify, a non-citizen must have resided in the U.S for 10 years as of Monday, June 17, 2024, and be married to a U.S citizen since that date as well. The move is also expected to affect about 50,000 children who are non-citizens and have an immigrant parent married to a U.S citizen. Under current U.S immigration law, if a non-citizen enters the country without authorization, they are ineligible for permanent residency unless they reenter legally through a green card application by their U.S spouse which is a lengthy process that takes years.
A senior administration official at the Federal Register has said that more information on the application and eligibility process will be published in the coming weeks. He goes on to say, ‘’This announcement utilizes existing authorities to keep families together, but only Congress can fix our broken immigration system’’.
The new policy came two weeks after Biden enacted a crackdown on immigration with a partial ban on asylum proceedings at the southern border.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Etornam Kumashie
