President Joe Biden announced an expansive plan to offer relief to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status in the U.S.
The plan will allow certain spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status to apply for permanent residency and eventually citizenship, potentially affecting upwards of half a million immigrants.
The big picture: To qualify, an immigrant must have lived in the United States for 10 years as of a specified date and be married to a U.S. citizen.
- About 50,000 noncitizen children with parents married to U.S. citizens could also potentially qualify for the process.
- The process is anticipated to be open for applications by the end of the summer, with fees yet to be determined.
What they’re saying: Former President Donald Trump’s campaign fired back at the move, calling it “mass amnesty.”
- “Biden only cares about one thing – power – and that’s why he is giving mass amnesty and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals who he knows will ultimately vote for him and the Open Border Democrat Party,” said spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
