Biden weighing amnesty for illegal immigrants married to U.S. citizens

• Biden weighing executive order granting amnesty and work permits to illegal immigrants who married U.S. citizens but did not qualify for a green card
• Estimated 1.1 million undocumented immigrants fall into this category
• Announcement could come before the 2024 presidential election in November 

Joe Biden is considering an executive order that would grant amnesty to the more than 1 million illegal immigrants who married U.S. citizens but were barred from receiving green cards.

The President is looking at taking further actions to address both the southern border crisis and illegal immigrants living in the U.S. ahead of the 2024 election as a large chunk of Americans rank the issue as their top priority.

Although immigrants, even those living in the U.S. illegally, are typically able to gain citizenship when they marry American citizens there are a number of reasons why they may have been given the benefit.

Some main reasons they are denied citizenship in these cases are if the individual has repeatedly entered the country illegally or forged legal documentation in the past.

To address this, the Biden administration is most heavily weighing a ‘parole in place’ program for spouses of U.S. citizens that were not initially granted citizenship, White House sources told The Wall Street Journal.

President Joe Biden is considering an executive order that would grant amnesty and work permits to illegal immigrants who married U.S. citizens but did not qualify for a green card. Pictured: Migrants camping on the bank of the Rio Grande River bordering Mexico and Texas are dispersed by Texas National Guard

Biden is looking to address the southern border crisis but also the issue of immigrants living with undocumented status in the U.S. ahead of the 2024 presidential election as the issue remains at top of voters’ minds. Pictured: Biden with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a trip to the border town of Brownsville, Texas on February 29, 2024

The status would be temporary and would grant the immigrants’ access to work permits and a path towards citizenship.

While the details of such an executive action have not been finalized or approved, the mummerings of taking the nuclear option to address another bloc of immigrants adds to a list of other ideas the administration has floated.

The White House has discussed timing an announcement before the election as a one-two punch following an executive order that would likely upset immigration advocates, an official notes.

Reports emerged earlier in April indicating Biden is considering using an executive order implemented by former President Donald Trump to limit the number of migrants who can claim asylum at the southern border.

‘We’re examining whether or not I have that power,’ Biden told Univision’s Enrique Acevedo in an interview taped in early April.

‘Some are suggesting that I should just go ahead and try it,’ the president said when speaking with the Spanish-language broadcaster. ‘And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court.’

Hundreds of thousands of migrants cross every month at the southern border and states bordering Mexico are struggling to address the crisis without federal-level action.

Under Biden’s leadership, the U.S. has experienced all-time-high levels of illegal immigration and House Republicans passed impeachment articles against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this year but the Senate voted to dismiss the articles last week.

Immigration advocacy group Fwd.us estimates there are 1.1 million undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens.

The idea of ‘parole in place’ is similar to humanitarian parole that Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has used to admit hundreds of thousands of migrants at the border who make asylum claims through the CBP One mobile app.

This could be easily implemented because a less far-reaching version already exists for undocumented immigrants who are married to military veterans.

Thousands of migrants cross the southern border every single day and Republicans are furious the Biden administration hasn’t done more to quell the crisis

Biden’s team also created the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) parole program, which allows for 30,000 asylum-seekers each month from these four countries to apply to be flown into U.S. airports and released into the country without legal status for a two-year grace period.

Widespread criticism ensued for the program after it was revealed that more than 320,000 undocumented migrants were flown into the U.S. from January 2023 through February 2024. An analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies found that the vast majority of these foreigners were flown into Miami, Florida .

Customs and Border Protection lawyers would not reveal where the migrants are flying to in the U.S.

Some immigration advocates claim that immigrants denied status or green cards because of past infractions go all the way back to when the individuals were young children and are pushing for a change.

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