President Joe Biden signed an executive order granting amnesty to at least half-a-million illegal immigrants Tuesday afternoon, calling it "family unification."
"Under current law, noncitizens married to a U.S. citizen may apply for lawful permanent residence through their marriage to a U.S. citizen. However, to apply for lawful permanent residence, many noncitizens must first depart the United States and wait to be processed abroad, resulting in a prolonged, potentially indefinite, period of separation from their U.S. citizen family members and causing tremendous hardship to all concerned. Consequently, these families live in fear and face deep uncertainty about their future," the White House released in a "fact sheet."
"To address this challenge, DHS will establish a new process to consider, on a case-by-case basis, requests for certain noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens who have lived in the United States for 10 years or more; do not pose a threat to public safety or national security; are otherwise eligible to apply for adjustment of status; and merit a favorable exercise of discretion. If eligible, these noncitizens will be able to apply for lawful permanent residence without having to leave the United States. DHS estimates that approximately 500,000 noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens could be eligible to access this process; on average, these noncitizens have resided in the United States for 23 years," the memo continues. "Approximately 50,000 children of these spouses also will be eligible for this process. Noncitizens who pose a threat to national security or public safety will not be eligible for this process, as aligned with our immigration enforcement priorities. If a noncitizen poses a threat to national security or public safety, DHS will detain, remove, or refer them to other federal agencies for further vetting, investigation, or prosecution as appropriate."
During the daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre had a hard time explaining the timing of Biden's decision.
KJP is REPEATEDLY pressed on the timing of Biden’s latest immigration EO.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 18, 2024
“Does the White House feel that President Biden has exhausted everything that he can do on this matter by executive order?"
KJP: "We continue to say we're gonna look to see what else we can do..." pic.twitter.com/D5kkLf2TSz
Others have a more specific explanation and are blasting the move as illegal.
WATCH:@HawleyMO joins @johnrobertsFox to discuss President Biden's reported upcoming announcement of sweeping new deportation protections, and this morning's Senate hearing investigating the U.S. role in the origin of COVID-19. #AmericaReports pic.twitter.com/F9zD2PKGIQ
— America Reports (@AmericaRpts) June 18, 2024
‼️ Today’s immigration actions by the Biden Admin are exactly the wrong approach. During the worst border security crisis in our history, the Biden Admin should be taking executive actions to protect the country, not rewarding illegal behavior that will fuel more illegal…
— Chad Wolf (@ChadFWolf) June 18, 2024
Just two weeks ago, the President pretended to crack down on the open-border catastrophe by engaging an election-year border charade. Now he’s trying to play both sides and is granting amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens. The President may think our homeland… https://t.co/Y8o4XUdcuo
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) June 18, 2024