I have little objection to President Biden’s announcement of amnesty for violations of U. S. law in the case of spouses of American citizens and their children other than a) I think he’s going beyond his authority without Congressional authorization and b) in addition to the 10 year residency requirement I think they should be required to have been married for one year prior to eligibility and remain married for at least one year to retain amnesty.
I also think some of the complaints about it are rather amusing. Yes, I am shocked, shocked that politicians should engage in baldly political actions during an election year. Such a thing is unheard of!
I suspect it’s legal, but bad politics in the sense that he should be minimizing immigration as an issue, not accentuating it, given polling. I found this comment from a Volokh Conspiracy thread that I found interesting:
“I’m an immigration attorney, and this is a mess.
“First of all, these individuals can file a request for a waiver of inadmissibility already. There’s no guarantee, but the immigration system tends to be responsive to the concerns of US citizens.
“Second, this only applies to those who slipped in undetected. Perversely, those who actually presented at the border and were inspected and admitted but stayed too long can’t benefit from this, only those who evaded inspection.
“Third, all this “as long as not a threat to security blah blah blah” means that USCIS is going to have to figure out how to basically vet someone for a green card in a parole in place case. Processing times are already miserably long, and this won’t help.
“Meanwhile, my Indian clients doing work the government has recognized as crucial to the national interest and approved for immigrant status must nonetheless wait about a decade before they’re even eligible to apply for permanent residence.
“This will only add to the bureaucracy and gum up the works for everyone who has been doing it the legal way from day one.”
Its probably the humane things to do but agree with PD it was bad politics.
Steve
Thanks for that, PD.
It’s inhumane in spades. It encourages the very issue: illegal immigration and its attendant pathologies, that result in awful outcomes. The human trafficking aspect probably most prominent.
As for the politics. Spare me. Biden et al political calculus has been the same from the start: votes and dilution of American traditional culture. This act is in service of that. They have done their political calculus already.
PD Shaw: Perversely, those who actually presented at the border and were inspected and admitted but stayed too long can’t benefit from this, only those who evaded inspection.
What Biden’s order does is allow “parole in place” for those who did not enter through legal points of entry, the same status as those who overstayed their visas are allowed when applying for permanent status. It still requires application and approval. Otherwise, those who entered illegally would have to leave for up to ten years, leaving their families behind.
Zach –
Your opium den dream aside, it will never be enforced. We don’t enforce laws already on the books.