Despite dropping out of the 2024 presidential election, President Biden has some big plans he wants to fulfill before leaving the White House.
In June 2024, Biden made some major promises regarding immigration if he was reelected in November.
Despite what many believe, Biden implored Congress to help him fix the current immigration system and secure the United States borders. He believes the current system is broken and needs addressing.
With this new policy, Biden hopes to help over 500,000 spouses and 50,000 children under 21.
Biden said, “It’s the right thing to do. I want those who have been educated at U.S. colleges and universities to put their skills and knowledge to work for here in America. I want to keep building the strongest economy in the world with the best workforce in the world.”
How Does Biden Want To Address Immigration?
Biden’s primary goal is to provide a legal pathway for many undocumented immigrants to obtain lawful permanent residency, ensuring that many families can remain together. He believes immigrants who have been living in the country, working and paying taxes, are essential to the “social fabric of our country” and should have a chance to become citizens without being deported. The goal is to strengthen families and the country’s economy.
How Will This Work?
If Biden’s plans go through, approved immigrants will have three years to apply for permanent residency, where they’ll be allowed to remain with their families. Once approved, they will also be eligible for work for up to three years.
Who Will Be Eligible?
The DHS (Department of Homeland Security) will assess each immigrant on a case-by-case basis. Still, this policy mainly applies to noncitizens who have been living in the United States for at least ten years as of June 17, 2024. They must also be legally married to a United States citizen as of June 17, 2024. Most applicants have resided here for about 23 years.
Additionally, the system will assess each applicant to determine they are not a threat to national security or public safety.
According to the White House, eligible people are those who “earned a degree at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education in the United States, and who have received an offer of employment from a U.S. employer in a field related to their degree.”
The new policy also proposes benefits for DACA beneficiaries and possibly other Dreamers. It will be easier for these individuals to obtain employment visas for high-skilled jobs. This benefits not only DACA recipients and their communities but also companies that would otherwise be losing highly valued employees.
What Is The Current Policy?
The primary difference between the current policy and the one Biden proposes is that noncitizen spouses and their children will not have to leave the country to apply for citizenship.
Under the current system, migrants must first return to their home countries and apply for legal residency in the United States. In many cases, migrants may be prevented from returning to the United States and their families. Some for up to 10 years or permanently.
Many undocumented immigrants are eligible for a green card because they are married to a United States citizen. However, under the current system, getting a green card is difficult because they were not inspected, admitted, or paroled when they entered the country.
What This Means For Immigration Into The United States
While Biden supports keeping families together and giving eligible migrants a chance to stay in the United States, that doesn’t mean he’s okay with anyone crossing the border illegally.
Also, in June 2024, the White House planned to reduce crossings at the US-Mexico border by being stricter on asylum claims.
What If This Policy Isn’t Approved Before Biden Leaves Office?
Now that Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, the Democratic party hopes Vice President Kamala Harris will win the election.
However, she has not talked much about her role along the US-Mexico border, so it’s hard to say exactly what her position will be.
Still, Harris has been working with the Partnership for Central America to create more jobs in the region and has been speaking with the region’s foreign leaders. She also plans to continue Biden’s policy of reducing border crossings.
In late July, after Biden stepped down, Harris’ campaign supported increasing the number of border patrol agents working at the border and Trump’s “tough” border security measures.
Many conservatives are worried about Harris’ stance on border patrol, believing that crossings will get worse if she becomes president.
Some have even called her the “Borders Czar,” claiming she failed to do her job repairing the border. However, many have incorrectly believed that was her job. Her job was actually to “examine the root causes of migration from Central America, including poverty, violence, and corruption.”
Still, many are hopeful that Harris will enact more change than even the Biden administration has achieved.
It seems that only time will tell.
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Sources:
CNN.com
whitehouse.gov
npr.org
americanimmigrationcouncil.org
openai.com
