A new report alleges that the Biden administration is planning to provide legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants using a large-scale amnesty operation.
CBS News reported Friday that the Biden administration is preparing to announce an immigration initiative that would provide work permits and protection from deportation to illegal immigrants who have married U.S. citizens, as long as they have lived in the U.S. for 10 years, citing four sources familiar with the plan.
CBS said that the proposal, referred to as “Parole in Place,” would allow those same immigrants the opportunity to gain permanent legal status and U.S. citizenship, by “removing an obstacle in U.S. law that prevents those who entered the U.S. illegally from obtaining green cards without leaving the country.”
The outlet also reported that the Biden administration has plans to simplify the waiver process for Dreamers, children of illegal immigrants who were granted special status by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as well as other illegal immigrants, making it easier for them to gain access to temporary visas.
The sources said that the programs could be announced as early as Tuesday, due to the fact that the White House is preparing to host an event that day to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the DACA program, which protects nearly 530,000 illegal immigrants from deportation, per USCIS data. However, the sources stated that as of Friday, the administration still needed to finalize the plan.
CBS noted that the new plan could be the most expansive immigration program for illegal immigrants since DACA’s inception in 2012, under former President Barack Obama. 1.1 million illegal immigrants are married to American citizens and many of those also meet residency and other criteria. This is, however, just a fraction of the 11 million total illegal immigrants currently within the nation.
Three congressional officials told CBS News that several Democratic lawmakers had already been invited to the event on Tuesday, but refused to share private invitations.
White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez previously said the administration is “committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system.”
CBS noted that this new program would be Biden’s latest executive action on the matter after he invoked his executive authority last week to partially ban asylum claims at the southern border.
Republican lawmakers are expected to push back on the program, as many have taken stances against “amnesty” for illegal immigrants within the U.S.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the lead negotiator of a border security deal between the White House and Republicans in the Senate earlier this year, pushed back on the new program.
“Biden’s border is still in crisis and his latest idea is amnesty. This will invite more chaos,” he said. “The border proposal I negotiated had NO amnesty and NO path to citizenship.”
