[00:00.00]U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a program to offer a path to citizenship to hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status in the United States.
[00:16.21]Administration officials said the program will be open to an estimated 500,000 immigrants.
[00:25.13]To qualify, an immigrant must have lived in the United States for 10 years as of June 17.
[00:34.19]He or she must be married to a U.S. citizen.
[00:37.56]There is no requirement on how long the couple must have been married.
[00:43.32]People who reach the 10-year mark after June 17 are not eligible.
[00:49.63]About 50,000 children under age 21 with a parent who is a U.S. citizen will also be eligible.
[00:57.59]The majority of the people who would be eligible are Mexicans, officials added.
[01:04.45]If a qualifying immigrant's application is approved, he or she would have three years to apply for permanent residency, receive a temporary work permit, and be protected from deportation.
[01:20.22]The program will let spouses and children apply for permanent residence without leaving the U.S., avoiding a possibly lengthy process and family separation.
[01:31.79]They could apply for U.S. citizenship after a period.
[01:37.29]Administration officials said they expect the process will accept applications by the end of the summer.
[01:45.12]Biden spoke about his plans at a White House event to mark the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.
[01:56.53]The DACA program was established under then-President Barack Obama.
[02:02.65]It offered protection from deportation and temporary work permits for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
[02:12.09]Former President Donald Trump ended the program in 2017.
[02:18.25]Biden's order to restart the program has faced several legal actions.
[02:23.42]Biden also announced new rules that will permit some people admitted under DACA and other young immigrants to receive work visas faster.
[02:35.01]Those eligible included people who have earned higher education degrees in the U.S. and who have received job offers from American employers in a field related to their training.
[02:49.88]Andrea Flores is a former policy adviser in the Obama and Biden administrations.
[02:56.79]She is now a vice president at FWD.us, an organization that supports immigration.
[03:05.51]Flores said Tuesday's announcement for spouses expanded on power used by presidents George W. Bush and Obama to permit "parole in place" for family of military members.
[03:21.14]The parole-in-place process lets qualifying immigrants get on the path to U.S. permanent residency without leaving the country.
[03:30.04]It affected people who were married to Americans but who were not U.S. citizens.
[03:36.87]Flores said it "fulfills President Biden's...promise to protect undocumented immigrants and their American families."
[03:47.34]Karoline Leavitt is a spokesperson for Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
[03:54.62]She called Biden's new program "amnesty" and said in a statement that Trump would "restore the rule of law" if reelected.
[04:04.56]Tuesday's announcement comes two weeks after Biden announced a new policy at the U.S.-Mexico border to halt asylum claims for those who do not arrive at official ports of entry.
[04:17.61]Immigrant rights groups have taken legal action against the Biden administration over that policy.
[04:25.24]An administration official said Monday that the policy had led to fewer detentions and arrests at the border.
[04:34.76]I'm Jill Robbins.
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Words in This Story
status -n. the position of a person in legal terms often related to their citizenship
eligible -adj. able to do or receive something
application -n. a formal, written request for assistance, a job, membership in a group, among other things
residency -n. the condition of living in a place and being legally recognized to live there
spouse -n. a person who is married to another person
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