United States – Miguel Aleman, 39, has lived in the United States after being brought to the country when he was just four years old; thousands of immigrants like Aleman are applying for a program that Biden admin is set to launch on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
New Initiative for Undocumented Immigrants
The program is one of the largest initiatives undertaken by Democratic President Joe Biden to grant legal status to persons residing in but violating the immigration laws of the United States. It is released months before the Nov 5 election, a date that the Republicans have identified as key to premising their campaigns around the issue of the illegality of immigration.
Without the program, Aleman, a 39-year-old Uber driver who is a father of two young children with his U. S. -citizen wife, would have to travel to Mexico and live there for at least a decade or, more likely, over a decade before being able to return legally.
”My whole family is here,” said Aleman, one of the dozens of Mexican, El Salvador, and Philippines immigrants who came to a Friday information session on the program arranged by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
It was informed by the Biden administration that Keeping Families Together, which was declared in June, shall be available to approximately 500,000 spouses who were residing in the United States as of June 17 and have been living in the country for at least ten years. About 50,000 other children below 21 years with a U. S. -U.citizen parent will also be allowed.
Biden presented the legalization program before suspending his bid for the presidency against Republican Donald Trump, who has taken rather unfriendly positions on immigration in July. Joe Biden’s nomination was made earlier this month, and the one expected to formally accept the nomination next Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago is Kamala Harris, the Vice President.
Trump has accused Harris of record numbers of migrants being caught crossing the US-Mexico border since she, alongside Biden, assumed office in 2021. Harris has fought back by pointing out her record on enforcement and Trump’s stance on the bipartisan border security measure that did not move forward in the U. S. Senate earlier this year.
During campaign avenues for the presidency in both Arizona and Nevada in November, Harris advocated for an “earned path to citizenship” for individuals in the United States of immigrant status.
Political Implications and Trump’s Criticism
Specifically, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in June described the citizenship program as a “mass amnesty” and reaffirmed the incumbent’s promise to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U. S. unlawfully if returned to office.
Keeping Families Together makes it possible for spouses to be granted permanent residence without leaving the United States when they have to wait for years before being allowed to come back. Seeking a green card, which implies permanent residence, the spouse qualifies for application for citizenship after three years.
The program may, therefore, be vulnerable to Republican-led legal challenges.
Program Details and Potential Legal Challenges
The plan might provide these individuals with an opportunity to become citizens; they are included in the DACA program, which provides deportation protection and work authorization for immigrants who came to the US as children after they turn sixteen.
DACA has been established in June 2012 by the then then President of the United States of America Barack Obama with Biden as his vice. During his 2017-2021 presidency, Trump attempted to repeal DACA, although the Supreme Court prevented him from doing so. However, other states with Republican attorneys general, including Texas, have persisted in seeking DACA’s repeal on the grounds that it is unlawful, as reported by Reuters.
Both Aleman and his wife participate in DACA, but they wait for KFIT to get legal goodwill.
“I want to keep contributing to this country,” he said.