Last month, the Biden administration announced that a new program will protect undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who have resided in the U.S. for 10 or more years from being deported.
Moreover, the policy will allow those individuals to work legally in the U.S. and remove barriers to U.S. citizenship.
In another new policy, immigrants and DACA recipients who earned their degree at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education and received an employment offer will receive their work visas quickly under certain conditions.
Applications are not yet open for these programs as the implementation process will take more time.
However, the White House estimates these new policies will help around half a million spouses of U.S. citizens and about 50,000 immigrant children whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen.
For the organization Asian American Advancing Justice (AAJC), these policies will greatly benefit thousands of families.
In a press release, AAJC said:
“These policies are momentous for hundreds of thousands of families, including many Asian Americans. They will bring much-needed stability, not just for undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients who have been waiting years for immigration reform, but also for their spouses and families. Many families who have feared permanent separation can now breathe a sigh of relief.”
However, AAJC is wary that there is still more work to be done to uplift immigrants in the US.
“Like DACA before it, these new policies do not address the long-standing problems facing our immigration system. Many Asian immigrants will not qualify for this new relief because of provisions based on method of entry,” the organization wrote.
“That means too many families will continue to remain in the shadows with no path to permanent status. We must work towards policies that provide all immigrants, including DACA recipients, Temporary Protected Status holders, and essential workers with accessible pathways to citizenship.”
For now, the organization urges the President and Congress to continue putting out policies like these to support immigration reform.
“We thank President Biden for this important policy. We urge him and Congress to continue prioritizing meaningful immigration reform and welcoming policies that keep families together. These policies, in contrast to those that focus on enforcement or attacks on asylum, are what the U.S. needs to remain strong, moral, and prosperous,” AAJC concluded.
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