NEW YORK CITY - Some of President Biden's top political advisers are weighing in on the possibility of providing temporary legal status and work permits to immigrants who are married to American citizens but living unlawfully in the country, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Officials inside the White House and at the Department of Homeland Security have been studying a range of proposals to provide work permits or deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. for a long time.
According to the WSJ, they have zeroed in on the population of mixed-status families, where typically the children and one parent are U.S. citizens, because they believe that demographic is the most compelling.
"These are people who have been here paying taxes for decades," said Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, a group of current and former CEOs that has been lobbying the Biden administration to provide work permits or other relief for undocumented spouses.
One of the reasons for this eventual decision is the growing recognition among Biden's advisors of the potential benefit from taking a positive step on immigration to contrast the President's increased tough talk on the issue, according to The Journal's sources.
Immigrants can typically qualify for green cards when they marry American citizens. However, some spouses may be barred under immigration law from qualifying for these benefits for any number of reasons, most commonly if they entered the country illegally more than once or used forged legal documentation. Some of these infractions, advocates say, happen when immigrants are young children, but can still result in lifelong bans.
It remains unclear when or if an announcement will take place, but the White House has discussed timing it before the elections. At the same time, they are trying to plan it to come in contrast following the possibility of executive actions to block migrants at the southern borders if crossings reach a certain threshold, considerations that have sparked criticism from some Democrats and advocates.
Officials also believe that a such a program could serve as a potential antidote to rising tensions from within immigrant communities, particularly from many Mexicans and Central Americans who resent that large populations of newly arriving asylum seekers mostly from South America have been authorized to work legally through a range of administration efforts.
A White House spokesman said the administration "remains committed to ensuring those who are eligible for relief can receive it quickly and to building an immigration system that is fairer and more humane. As we have said before, the Administration is constantly evaluating possible policy options."
Immigration has become an increasingly dividing issue among voters. While Americans have grown increasingly concerned about unchecked immigration, pollsters have found Dreamers— beneficiaries of the DACA program— and mixed-status couples to be particularly sympathetic toward this type of immigration, the WSJ reports.
Increased discussions on this issue follows a December meeting between mixed-status families, business leaders and officials at the White House. Advocates have continued meeting with top White House staffers including domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden, and Tom Perez, director of the White House's office of intergovernmental affairs, who also has served as an informal liaison to Latino communities.
Several advocates who have spoken with the president believe he supports the proposal and views the idea as his chance to make an impact similar to President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA granted work permits and deportation protections to more than 800,000 young undocumented immigrants, and was launched months before Obama's 2012 re-election.
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