Biden announced the initiative from the White House in the context of the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, implemented on June 15, 2012 by the then Government of Barack Obama.
It is one of the largest federal aid programs for migrants since DACA was born and comes to light less than five months before the November 5 elections.
But as the saying goes ‘one of lime and the other of sand’, the executive action came weeks after an order that restricted asylum and that for many activists brings Biden’s immigration policies closer to those of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump. .
The current measure will provide legal status and protection to about 500,000 American families and about 50,000 children of immigrants under the age of 21 who do not have citizenship and one of their parents is married to a citizen of this country, administration officials said. Biden, cited in local media.
Currently, federal legislation establishes that an undocumented person who enters the United States and marries a national must first apply for parole before applying for legal residence, but in that process they would have to leave the territory of the Union.
With this Tuesday’s decision – which will benefit those arriving before June 17, 2014 – these undocumented spouses will be able to apply for residency without having to leave the country and constitutes a substantial change because it will keep families together, a point that stands out in the Biden’s electoral campaign with which he wants to distance himself from Trump.
The Democratic president also said that his Government will facilitate the process of granting work visas to foreign professionals who have recently graduated from higher education centers and who have a highly qualified job offer.
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