Immigrant ARC Responds to Biden’s Executive Action Protecting Immigrant Families
New York, NY - June 18, 2024 - Today, President Biden issued an Executive Action, which provides protections to hundreds of thousands of immigrant families who have until now had little to no relief from deportation nor had access to potential avenues to citizenship. This action grants parole for spouses of U.S Citizens who have lived at least 10 years in the country, and helps DACA recipients access employment visas.
In response to Biden’s Executive Action, Camille Mackler, Executive Director of Immigrant ARC, made the following statement:
“We are grateful to see President Biden taking these crucial steps to fix our woefully broken immigration system and offer hundreds of thousands of people, many who have lived in this country for decades, long awaited immigration relief and protection from the constant threat of deportation. But we also urge the Biden Administration and Congress to continue fixing our outdated immigration system and fighting back against xenophobic attacks on our immigrant communities––it is crucial that we protect the right to asylum, expand and redesignate TPS for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, Venezuela, Mali, and Mauritania, designate Ecuador and Congo, and get Deferred Enforcement of Departure for Guatemala– to continue offering immigration relief for long-term undocumented immigrants.”
Immigrant ARC is encouraged to see that the Biden Administration has taken steps to finally allow avenues to citizenship to the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable undocumented and mixed status immigrant families who have lived in this country for years building their lives, working, starting businesses, and contributing to their communities while under constant risk of deportation and family separation.
The White House estimates that there are roughly 500,000 undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens who would be eligible for this program. There are many misconceptions surrounding our immigration system and the availability of pathways to residency and citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Due to outdated and punitive immigration policy, undocumented immigrants who marry a United States citizen are barred from adjusting their status unless they leave the United States for years and leave behind their families. This is why millions, facing this impossible choice, often decide to stay in the United States and remain undocumented, even though this leaves them with no ability to work legally and at constant risk of deportation. Today’s executive action fixes this cruel bureaucratic reality by giving undocumented spouses of United States citizens protection from deportation, allowing them to obtain work authorization, as well as ease their path to permanent resident status. Protecting long-term undocumented residents with immigration relief is not only the morally correct choice––it also allows a whole group of people to obtain long-term status, work authorization, and access to resources that will include them in our cultural, civic, and economic life. If we ensure that our immigrant communities have the tools they need to flourish, our country will grow and flourish with them.
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Immigrant ARC is a collaborative of over 80 organizations and professional associations providing legal services to New York’s immigrant communities throughout the State. Born out of the legal effort at JFK Airport during the Muslim Travel Ban in 2017, our mission is clear: to mobilize New York State’s legal service providers by facilitating communication and information sharing to better support our immigrant communities; to organize and respond to issues as they arise by coordinating resources and fostering best practices among providers; and to resist and challenge anti-immigrant policies by shining a light on injustices and confronting inequalities faced by our communities in the legal system.
