Biden grants legal status to 500,000 undocumented migrants

The Biden administration has approved a large-scale immigration program that would provide legal status 500,000 undocumented migrants, the CBS News reports.

According to the BBC, the new policy is aimed to protect hundreds of thousands of spouses from US citizens from deportation, something that the White House describes as “new action to keep families together”.

“For those wives or husbands and their children who have lived in America for a decade or more, but are undocumented, this action will allow them to file paperwork for legal status in the United States”, Mr. Biden said, as quoted by CBS News.

Biden also highlighted how these spouses and their children could legally remain in the United States without fear of deportation.

However, the new policy doesn’t apply to every spouse, only those who have been living in the United States for over 10 years. It would also benefit the children born from these unions.

The New York Time explains that this program opens a path to citizenship for the spouses of US nationals and allow them to work legally.

The BBC describes Biden’s policy as the most ambitious pro-immigration measure since Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012.

According to AP News, the program will be a watershed for the Biden administration. However, in an election year, the current White House resident must tread carefully in a major topic such as immigration.

Although the current US President began his presidency with sweeping progressive promises, Biden now has had to face a record number of migrants coming into the US.

Aware that many Americans want stricter migration laws, The New York Times points out that Biden had previously suspended longtime guarantees for asylum seekers in the US-Mexico border.

AP News highlights that Biden’s restrictions on asylum seekers brought to mind some policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump. Will the current US President be able to keep his act together for November?

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