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President Joe Biden, attempting to navigate a tricky political moment before the election and balancing his recent crackdown on illegal border crossings, announced a new path to citizenship for immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens.
Editor's note: Jill Filipovic is a New York-based journalist and author of “Ok Boomer, Let's Talk: How My Generation Was Left Behind.” twitterAll opinions expressed in this op-ed are her own. Find more opinion at CNN.
CNN —
This week, the Biden Administration announced a commonsense immigration measure that will help strengthen and stabilize American families: an Executive Order that will allow unlawful spouses of U.S. citizens who have lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years to remain in the country while they apply for permanent resident status.
Courtesy of Jill Filipovic
Jill Filipovic.
Until now, undocumented spouses and children have had to leave the U.S. and apply for residency, uprooting parents from their homes, jobs, communities and entire family systems.
These new protections also apply to eligible stepchildren of illegal immigrants who are U.S. citizens.
By any definition, this policy favors families and children. And it doesn't increase immigration because it applies only to people who are already in the country and have been there for years — about 500,000 adults and 50,000 children — all of whom are currently in limbo.
This is basic and humane. Imagine the stress of knowing that your spouse of many years, and perhaps even your parents, could be picked up in an instant and deported, along with your stepchildren.
And of course, many “pro-family” Republicans are criticizing the measure, even after they shot down a restrictive bipartisan immigration bill that offered them many concessions earlier this year.
The Biden administration is in a tough position on immigration as it faces a tough election year. President Joe Biden has cracked down on immigration, including issuing an executive order that all but blocked the ability of migrants at the southern border to apply for asylum.
Thousands of people are apprehended every day trying to cross from Mexico into the United States, with the Border Patrol apprehending a record 250,000 people in December. Many U.S. cities that previously portray themselves as progressive and welcoming to newcomers also suffer from severe housing shortages, homelessness and infrastructure problems, and are struggling to support large numbers of people who need food, shelter and other assistance.
Donald Trump has made immigration a key campaign issue, and with Republicans cynically blocking Biden's previous efforts to restrict immigration, the president has few options when it comes to bipartisan negotiations. Biden also leads a party with diverse views on immigration, with many Democrats wanting tougher restrictions, while many others strongly oppose efforts to limit asylum or turn away people in desperate situations.
Polls show that voters, including a majority of Democrats, support Biden's tougher border policies, but the administration is walking a fine line, especially after pitching itself as a more humane alternative to Trump, who notoriously sought to ban immigration from several Muslim-majority countries, separated migrant children from their families and imposed other draconian restrictions on immigration.
“This latest step, which allows families to remain together without changing border policy, is an incredible step forward. It is absurd that people married to US citizens and their children should have to leave their homes, families and jobs if they want to have legal status in the US.
Politicians and activists on both sides of the political aisle have repeatedly emphasized the importance of stable families to children and communities, and the value of two-parent households has been a Republican talking point for decades.
An immigration policy that forces people to choose between legal status and their families is one that doesn't help anyone, and while it's unclear whether Biden's new measures will encourage more immigration because they don't apply to newcomers, it's easy to see how without this change families will be left in unnecessary limbo and uncertainty.
Republican criticism of the bill is, frankly, unfounded. “This bill creates more incentives for people to come into the U.S. illegally,” said House Republican Leader John Saun. “They will certainly be challenged.” The conservative group America First Legal has said it will indeed challenge the new measures.
By any definition, this policy is pro-family and pro-children.
Jill Filipovic
And other Republicans, including Sen. Thom Tillis, have argued that the administration should have pursued a bipartisan bill.
But they already supported a bipartisan immigration bill that Republicans rejected for purely political reasons.
In our hyper-polarized world, calling for partisanship and common-sense legislation seems almost quaint, but the reality is that Americans desperately need elected officials who will work in their best interest, not just fill seats in Congress for their party or put their favorite presidential candidate in the White House.
There are real, substantive policy debates about immigration — about how many immigrants the United States should accept, how to regulate the flow of immigrants, what to do about the millions of illegals already in the United States, and so on — and these are worth discussing.
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But when leaders propose solutions that meet almost all the criteria of good policy, such as keeping families together without encouraging more migration, politicians should be given the credit they deserve. If that is too difficult, at least stay quiet and work on your own policies and projects.
Many Republicans say they want mass deportations, but the reality will inevitably be complicated when the people being deported are loved ones who have been part of their communities for years, potentially married to American spouses and raising American children.
Biden’s plan to create an easier path for people with green cards to gain permanent residency without having to separate their families is eminently sound and conventional, and should be supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.
