According to a report from CBS News, the Biden administration is preparing to announce a plan that would grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have been present in the United States for at least 10 years. The announcement comes as evidence continues to mount that Biden’s handling of illegal immigration presents a major liability to his re-election chances in 2024.
The CBS report was based on conversations with four unnamed Biden administration officials who discussed the details in a clear trial balloon with a friendly media outlet. The unnamed officials indicated that the program will be called “Parole in Place” and would involve offering green cards and deportation protection for illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for ten years and have married a U.S. citizen.
Under current law, those people may already qualify for a green card, but would have to first leave the country in order to apply for one. The Biden Administration program would remove even that requirement and make those individuals immediately eligible.
The unnamed administration officials also indicated that the Biden administration intends to streamline the process for so-called DREAMers to apply for things like the controversial H-1B visas.
The administration plans to announce these measures as soon as Tuesday. Administration officials estimate that as many as 1.1 million illegal immigrants will be affected by the new policies.
Biden’s move comes as he finds himself between a rock and a hard place when it comes to immigration. Numerous polls have shown that the American public at large has become increasingly frustrated with the surge of immigration at the border ever since border governors, led by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, began a controversial busing program designed to enable so-called sanctuary jurisdictions to share the burden of caring for immigrants they claim to welcome.
However, Biden faces significant challenges from the left flank of his own base, which is already furious at him for being insufficiently supportive of Hamas terrorists. Biden faced some measure of pushback from his own party even for his recent, mostly toothless executive order that was designed to stem the flood of so-called asylum seekers at the border.