Joe Biden opens green card path to undocumented immigrant spouses of US citizens

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Joe Biden is set to offer up to 500,000 undocumented spouses of Americans an easier path to legal status and US citizenship, removing the threat of deportation and marking the country’s most significant reform to immigration policy in years.

The move was expected to be announced by the US president on Tuesday, according to two people briefed on the matter.

It would allow the spouses to apply for lawful permanent residency without having to leave the country. It would give them immediate permission to work and a first step to a green card, or permanent residency, and citizenship.

The new executive action marks the most far-reaching US immigration reform since former president Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2012, which protected from deportation people brought to the country as children.

Biden’s expected announcement comes as he tries to pacify the progressive wing of his Democratic party while also deflecting attacks from Donald Trump, his 2024 presidential election rival, over the rise in immigration at the US’s southern border.

The move also follows Biden’s decision two weeks ago to launch a major crackdown on illegal immigration from Mexico, limiting migrants’ ability to request asylum if they have crossed unlawfully and enabling their expedited deportation.

A surge in illegal border crossings during Biden’s presidency has become one of his biggest political vulnerabilities, putting him under intense pressure to act.

But the Biden crackdown has also risked alienating some progressive Democratic voters already displeased with US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, among other issues.

Henry Cuellar, a Democratic lawmaker from Texas said on X on Monday that he looked “forward” to Biden’s announcement.

“These executive actions will help keep American families united and strengthen our economy,” he said. “We must find bipartisan solutions to address wider immigration challenges, including border security.”

Administration officials said the programme was intended to bring “stability to Americans living in mixed-status families” by offering 500,000 undocumented spouses of US citizens the right to apply for lawful permanent residency without having to leave the country.

If accepted, the spouses would have a three-year window in which to apply for a green card and be granted work authorisation in the interim. Green card holders have a pathway to US citizenship.

The Trump campaign slammed Biden’s policy as a “mass amnesty plan” serving as “another invitation for illegal immigration” that would “undoubtedly lead to a greater surge in migrant crime”.

Also on X, Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, attacked the expected announcement as an “unconstitutional amnesty to illegal aliens during a border invasion”.

Under current US law, many non-citizen spouses must apply for a green card from abroad, meaning some who are eligible to seek it do not do so for fear of leaving their families and homes.

To qualify for the programme, the undocumented spouses must have lived in the country for at least a decade as of June 17. Others who have been in the US for less time will become eligible when they hit their own 10-year mark.

An additional 50,000 children of parents married to US citizens will qualify for the programme.

The “majority” of people qualifying for the programme were likely to be from Mexico and northern Central America, said a senior Biden administration official.

The programme will also make it easier for Daca recipients who have degrees from US institutions of higher education to get work visas more quickly.