Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on New Actions to Address Our Broken Immigration System
Via Teleconference
4:35 P.M. EDT
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining today’s press call regarding additional actions President Biden will announce to address our broken immigration system. The call will begin with remarks from senior administration officials and be followed by a question-and-answer period.
As a reminder, the contents of this call and the factsheet you all received over email are embargoed until 5:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.
For your knowledge and not for reporting or attribution, today’s briefers will include [senior administration official], [senior administration official], [senior administration official], [senior administration official], and [senior administration official].
With that, I will turn it over to [senior administration official] to kick us off.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us today.
Since the beginning of the administration, President Biden has taken a number of actions to secure our border, expand lawful pathways, and keep families together. I’m going to talk about some of these actions as well as new ones that we are announcing today.
Saturday marked 12 years since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, popularly known as “DACA.” Over the last 12 years, DACA has provided more than 800,000 DREAMers — children who were brought to the U.S. as young children by their parents — with the ability to work lawfully, pursue an education, open businesses, and contribute their enormous talents to make our communities better and stronger.
DREAMers are critical members of our communities. And in his first day in office, President Biden sent Congress a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would have delivered enduring protection to DREAMers and their families.
While Congress has failed to act on those reforms, the Biden-Harris administration has vigorously defended the DACA rule in court; has extended Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA recipients; and streamlined, expanded, and instituted new reunification programs so that families can stay together while they complete the immigration process. Ultimately, only Congress can provide a permanent and lasting stability to DREAMers and their families, and we continue to call on Congress to act on that.
President Biden believes that securing the border is essential, and he also believes in expanding lawful pathways and keeping families together. And he has delivered on all these counts.
As you all remember, two weeks ago, President Biden announced additional actions to secure our southern border when encounter levels are high, after congressional Republicans twice voted against the toughest and fairest set of bipartisan reforms to our asylum and immigration system in decades. And while we are still in the early phase of implementation, encounters in between ports of entries are down and repatriations are up.
However, we understand that migration flows are dynamic, and we will continue surging resources and personnel to the areas of the border that need them and working with our international partners to reduce flows before they arrive on our border.
In addition to these actions, the administration has deployed record numbers of law enforcement personnel, infrastructure, and technology to the southern border. We have revoked the visas of CEOs and government officials in the region and outside the United States who are profiting from migrant smuggling to our border. And we have expanded efforts to dismantle human smuggling networks and prosecute individuals who violate immigration laws.
But President Biden has also overseen the greatest expansion of lawful pathways in decades. And tomorrow, he will announce new actions to bring peace of mind and stability to Americans living in mixed-status families. These measures will help keep American families together and allow more young people to contribute to our economy and our country.
President Biden will announce that the Department of Homeland Security will take actions designed to help U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children keep their families together. This new process will help certain noncitizen spouses and children apply for lawful permanent residence — status that they are already eligible for — without leaving the country and potentially putting themselves in harm’s way. This action could protect approximately half a million American families and approximately 50,000 noncitizen children under the age of 21 whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen.
Additionally, President Biden will announce that the administration is taking action to facilitate the employment visa process for those who have graduated from college and have a high-skilled job offer, including DACA recipients and other DREAMers.
These measures show that the administration is committed to taking action within its legal authorities to secure our border and ensure that our immigration system is more fair and more just.
However, we remain clear-eyed that only Congress can deliver the additional personnel, resources, and policy changes that are needed to secure our border, and only Congress can deliver the comprehensive reform of our immigration and asylum laws that we need to secure our border and make our immigration system work.
With that, I will turn it over to [senior administration official].
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks, [senior administration official]. And good afternoon, everyone.
Tomorrow, DHS will be announcing actions to promote family unity in the immigration process. Consistent with the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to keeping families together, DHS will establish a new process to consider on a case-by-case basis requests of certain noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens who meet specific requirements.
First, they must be present in the United States without having been admitted or paroled.
Second, they must have lived in the United States for at least 10 years as of today — that is June 17th, 2024. They have — they must have had — they have, excuse me, a legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen as of June 17th, 2024. They must not pose a threat to public safety or national security. They must otherwise be eligible to apply — excuse me — to apply to adjust their status to that of a lawful permanent resident, also known as a green card. And they must 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, as [senior administration official] pointed out.
This announcement utilizes existing authorities to keep families together. But as [senior administration official] noted as well, only Congress can fix our broken immigration system.
To be clear, in terms of the process, under current law, noncitizens married to a U.S. citizen may apply for lawful permanent residence based on 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. The challenges and uncertainty of this process result in many eligible spouses not applying for permanent residence.
Through the new process that will be announced tomorrow, certain noncitizens who are eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence will be able to do so without having to leave the United States. These eligible noncitizens who have lived here for 10 years or more have deep family and community ties in the United States. Many of these families include U.S.-citizen children, yet they live in fear and face deep uncertainty about their future.
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. Approximately 50,000 children of these noncitizen parents — that is, the stepchildren of a U.S.-citizen parent — who are already present in the United States without admission or parole will also be eligible for this process.
Further information regarding eligibility and the application process, including a notice in the Federal Register, will be published soon. Anyone who attempts to file an application before the process opens will have their application rejected.
Consistent with our immigration enforcement priorities, noncitizens who pose a threat to national security or public safety will not be eligible for this process. 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.
Paired together, these actions will advance our country’s interest in keeping American families together while ensuring anyone known to pose a threat to public safety cannot take part in our immigration system.
Finally, I do want to note that DHS will be joining the Department of State in an effort to more efficiently facilitate certain employment-based nonimmigrant visas for eligible individuals, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipients and other DREAMers who have graduated from an accredited U.S. institution of higher education and who have received an offer of employment from a U.S. employer.
By clarifying and enhancing these — the existing process, the Department of State’s policy will give U.S. employers increased confidence that they can hire the talent they need and that they will be able to quickly get to work.
Thank you. And with that, I’ll turn it back to Angelo.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you, [senior administration official], and thank you, [senior administration official].
With that, we will go to the question-and-answer portion of the call. As a reminder, this will also be on background and attributable to “senior administration officials.”
As some of you are doing, please use the “raise hand” function on Zoom, and we will give you a minute to queue up.
We will start with Michelle. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi, everyone. Thanks for doing this call. I wanted to see if you could clarify how exactly you’re going to issue this. Is it going to be a memo? Are you going to do a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking? I’m trying to understand how soon we can expect an application process to open, whether it’s months, before the election, et cetera.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I’m happy to take that. We — as I mentioned there will be a Federal Register notice coming out with further information. That will be coming out soon, in the weeks ahead. We anticipate the process opening by the end of summer.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thanks. We will go to Rafael next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi. Thanks for having this. Two quick questions. For the DREAMers side of the — of things, will bachelor’s, associate degrees, being a — being active duty in the military, will that be enough for them to be able to streamline their — their visas or be able to have access to these visas?
And on the noncitizens, I know common-law marriage, as defined by each state, does count for, like, naturalizations right now. Will common-law marriage count for these marriages?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, I can take the question about the visa process for DREAMers, so — and others. So, the base qualification will be that a person needs to qualify for one of the existing temporary work visas that are provided for in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
So, the kind of classic example of a visa where a bachelor’s degree is kind of the — the baseline requirement is the H-1B visa for specialty occupation workers. So, people would need to first establish that they are eligible for that through employer sponsorship, and then they would be able to apply for a visa consistent with the forthcoming guidance from the State Department.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And regarding your second question on common-law marriage, the marriage has to be legally valid, as I noted. And in terms of what meets that definition, there’ll be further information coming in the Federal Register notice and further guidance.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Camilo next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi, folks. Hi, folks. Can you hear me?
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Yes.
Q Okay. Great. Can you say whether you have a number of USCIS employees who are expected to be assigned to review these cases?
And my second question, it’s just a clarification request. Can you explain again how the process will work for the people who are under the age of 21 who could receive parole in place? Thanks.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks for those questions, Camilo. I don’t have a number to share in terms of USCIS personnel that will be assigned to this. You know, USCIS will assess their resource needs and assign personnel and other resources appropriately. As more information becomes available about the process, perhaps that’ll be something more we can share in the future.
And regarding the process for children who are under the age of 21, in terms of eligibility, certain noncitizen children of these noncitizen spouses who are present in the country without admission or parole, if they meet the definition of a stepchild under the Immigration and Nationality Act — so, that is, they must be a stepchild of the U.S.-citizen parent — under existing criteria, that makes them eligible to adjust status. And so, much like these noncitizen parents would have access to parole so that we could ease their path to the adjustment of status.
I’ll note that in terms of that definition, the child has to be unmarried, under 21, and the marriage between the parents has to have taken place before the child turned 18.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Gabe next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Thanks very much, Angelo. Thank you all for doing this. A point of clarification. On the folks that are — the noncitizen spouses that have been here for 10 or more years, is there any amount of time that they have to be married to their spouse in order to be — for this to apply?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The marriage requirement is that they be married as of June 17th, 2024. So, essentially married before the announcement is made.
You know, I should say that USCIS is very accustomed to evaluating the bona fides of a marriage, and they will do so, you know, as appropriate in these cases.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Seung Min next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi. Thanks for holding the call. Just a couple of points of clarification sort of related to Gabe’s question just now. So, if the requirement is that it’s 10 years as of June 17th — it’s June 17th or before, right? So, let’s say I’ve been here for nine months and — or, sorry, nine years and three months, I wouldn’t be able to qualify in three months. Is that — or nine — sorry, whatever — nine years and, whatever, nine months, then I wouldn’t be able to qualify in, like, three months. Is that correct?
And then, also, do you guys know if that — what the application fee would be once this process opens up?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, thanks for your question. It has to be at least 10 years as of today, June 17th. So, it is the — you do not — no one becomes eligible for this process after the date of announcement — or after June 17th. So, I think that answers your question. So, those 10 years will have to have been met as of June 17th.
And in terms of fees, you know, more information about the fees will be forthcoming when we share more information about the process.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Alejandra next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hey, hello. Thank you for doing this. I just wanted to know if you could give more specifics onto what you mentioned about facilitating the employment visa process for people who have graduated college and have a high-skilled job offer. And what does “high-skilled job offer” entails? Thank you so much.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Sure. Thanks for the question. So, just to state at the top, there will be additional guidance forthcoming from the State Department on this that will provide some of the additional parameters and additional clarity.
But, you know, philosophically, the — the idea is that we recognize that there is a national interest component to making sure that people who are educated in the United States are able to put their education and skills to use in the United States for the benefit of our country. And there is an existing process for people who might be inadmissible and, therefore, ineligible for a visa because of, for example, prior unlawful presence in the United States.
The idea is to create guidance that will just provide a little bit more certainty and reflect the fact that the qualities that I just mentioned are in the national interest. And so, the idea would to put additional certainty and speed around the visa process so that employers are able to make informed decisions and, of course, the employees in terms of evaluating whether — whether they are comfortable with departing the United States and applying — applying for a visa and potentially coming back in.
And then, I’m sorry, the second piece of your question, can you repeat it?
Q Yeah. So — well, you said national interest. So, does that mean they would get a national interest waiver?
And then the second part of my question was: What does “high-skilled job offer” entails? Like what are —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I see. Okay.
Q — specific professions, a specific, like, criteria for that?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah. Understood. Okay. So, there’s — they’re not getting a national interest waiver, per se. The existing waiver process that is enshrined in the statute gives consular officers discretion to recommend a waiver and then, of course, the Department of Homeland Security to grant a waiver. So, there’s discretion in that process.
The idea is just to reflect that it is — we recognize that there is a national interest element to making sure that people who have been educated in the United States are able to put their education skills to use for the benefit of our country.
In terms of what a high-skilled or — occupation might look like, again, just turning to sort of the classic example of the H-1B visa, which is available to specialty occupation workers, that type of visa requires an individual to have a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specific specialty and a job offer where the — where the specialized degree is typically qual- — is typically required to perform the job. So, you see these often in STEM occupations, but it can be extended beyond that as well.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Salome next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Yes. Thank you. Thank you for the space. Kind of following up on the DACA. So, DACA recipients who had overstayed their visas, how will they be benefited from it? What happens to the years they stayed out of status? And will they have to do a consular process to get an H-1B visa? Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, anyone who is currently without status does have to consular process and apply for a visa outside the country. So, that’s kind of foundational.
And, again, just sort of to reiterate what I just said before, the idea is to put some additional certainty and speed around the waiver process. But people will still have to — if you — if a person is without status, they will still have to depart the United States and apply for a visa before they will be permitted to come back in.
That is what is required in the law, and that includes DACA — I mean, DACA recipients as well.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Jesús next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi. Thank you for doing this. Also follow-up about the H-1B visas, because this option opens the option to apply for a green card later. It is — but there is a significant backlog in USCIS, so how you are going to fix this issue, because, also, to apply for the first time is complicated?
And, also, will this program be renewed every year, particularly for these people — these undocumented people married with U.S. citizens, which means people reaching the qualification next year can apply also? Thank you so much.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, on the first question, we recognize that there are certainly significant backlogs in the immigrant visa system, both on the family-based side and on the employment-based side. Unfortunately, only Congress can truly help us address that challenge, because there are limits on the number of immigrant visas that can be issued in any given fiscal year, and it has been a few decades since those numbers have been updated. So, unfortunately, we are not able to address that without the assistance of Congress.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And regarding your second question, this is not a process through which people can become eligible in the future. This is a process that benefits those who meets the requirements as of today, as I was noting earlier in terms of the date of marriage and the 10 years of presence in the United States.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Sergio next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Thank you, Angelo. And thanks so much for doing this. I have two quick questions. One, to clarify, would this also — this parole in place, would it also apply for noncitizens who have been deported at least once?
And, also, I think — I think you all — you know, it’s fair to say that the expectation is that something like this could be challenged pretty quickly. How confident is the administration that it will stand in court? Thanks.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you for your question. So, the purpose of this process is to facilitate the adjustment of status process domestically to avoid people having to travel abroad and be separated from their family if they are otherwise eligible to adjust. The scenario that you presented of an individual who was unlawfully present here and was deported and returned is an individual who would not be eligible to adjust status. That is something that cannot be waived, and, therefore, they are not eligible for this process that we are announcing.
In terms of your second question regarding legal challenge, we feel strong- — that we are on strong legal footing to make this announcement and are comfortable doing so.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to María next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Thank you very much for asking. Hi, can you hear me? Hello?
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Yes.
Q Oh, okay. Great. Thank you. So, just so I understand, so, overall, is it correct to say that both groups, like, the Keeping Families Together and the DACA/DREAMers, that the President is opening up a path — a possible path to citizenship? But the first group, the married spouses, those — they — those folks crossed the border illegally, where the other group, the DREAMers, may not necessarily have crossed illegally but can’t get on a path to citizenship nonetheless. Is that right?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, María, I’m happy to start, and others can add in. But, you know, I want to be clear that everything that we are announcing is for individuals who are eligible under existing U.S. law to be able to adjust their status. What we are announcing are essentially streamlined processes to make it more minimally — like, minimize the bureaucracy, minimize the hardship that having to leave the country creates, and, you know, ensure some predictability, you know, for the individuals who, you know, we were describing in terms of the H-1B process.
And we’re really just trying to make clear under existing law that these individuals are able to access, you know, permanent residence or, in the case of the H-1B announcement, you know, an employment visa.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. We will go to Astrid next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi. Thank you. Can you clarify what the time frame is for the streamlined process for spouses to get a visa, especially if their work permit would expire in three years? Is the thought that they would be able to have their legal permanent residency in those three years?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks for that question, Astrid. We are not committing to any particular times today. The purpose of this process is to ensure that people, once granted parole, are able to then apply for adjustment of status and to do so from the United States with their families. That does not limit the time through which they can apply, but we trust that many people who are interested in this process will be looking to apply as quickly as possible.
USCIS will, you know, certainly, in the balance of its, you know, benefits and adjudications, be allocating resources to make as timely adjudications as possible. But we’re not looking to — we’re not — the three years that you referenced is not any particular timeline that we are committing to or announcing.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. And we have time for two more questions. We will go to Rohit next. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi. Thanks for doing this. I have two questions. First, from what I gathered, I mean, it looks like the — the documented DREAMers — I mean, these are the, you know, kids who grew up in America and are dependent on their parent’s visa — they’re not protected to this new regulation. Is the administration looking to issue any guidelines to protect them? Last week, we saw about 52 — 54 congressperson sending a letter to DHS and USCIS asking them to be able to take action to protect them.
And, B, because, you know, there has been a massive backlog. It looks like, from what you just said, you do have good legal standing to issue, EADs and advance parole to people who have been approved for a green card. So, is the administration also going to take executive action this year to protect them as well?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hi, Rohit. I mean, I would say that, as we are demonstrating today, this administration cares deeply about the DREAMers and about the DACA recipients, but we don’t have anything to announce on that today.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you. And our last question will go to Steff. You should be unmuted now.
Q Hi. Thank you. I’m wondering if in this, like, group of half a million people, if you guys have any sort of, like, country or regional breakdown for, you know, where these people’s home countries are?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I would say, you know, generally speaking, we certainly anticipate that many individuals will have been from Mexico, just given the demographics of noncitizens who arrived 10 or more years ago, and certainly northern Central America as well. But I think we, you know, expect a majority to be from Mexico.
MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ: Thank you, [senior administration official].
And that is all the time that we have today.
As a reminder, the contents of this call and the factsheet you received over email are embargoed until 5:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.
Thanks, everyone.
5:07 P.M. EDT
