Gratified with the President’s Executive Action for Immigrant Families

Improving Visas and DACA is a meaningful way to say Families Matter.

 

Washington, D.C. — Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice is pleased with President Biden for issuing an executive action that might prove to be the most significant immigration relief since Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the most positively impactful adjustment of immigration policies in more than a decade. President Biden announced two crucial policy changes today that experts expect will provide relief to hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the United States.

UUSJ welcomes two significant and potentially transformative administration policies, especially given Congress’s lack of action on DACA and the looming threat posed by federal courts to DACA.

The first program is designed to permit undocumented immigrants with spouses that are U.S. citizens, who have also lived in the United States for at least ten years, to apply for “parole in place.” Projections suggest over 500,000 people could benefit directly, and another 50,000 stepchildren of U.S. citizens could likely apply as “derivatives” of their undocumented parent, and thus also benefit.

The second action announced by the administration looks to strengthen and improve the experience of DACA recipients. The measure would make it easier for DACA beneficiaries and, perhaps, other Dreamers to access high-skilled employment visas. It would better situate them to capitalize on the stream of such visas, with the expectation that this will allow employers to keep critical employees while simultaneously providing DACA recipients the chance to continue to invest in their communities.

If fully implemented, these two policies are expected to help keep families together, allow immigrants to participate robustly in their U.S. communities, and continue contributing to the national economy.

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Pablo DeJesús, Executive Director of Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, stated:

“Unitarian Universalists firmly believe that families belong together.  That families matter. That communities matter. We are, therefore, gratified to hear that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced a program for undocumented immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens, and the President is looking to improve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

“This new executive action for the spouses of U.S. citizens opens a path to permanent status and, perhaps, eventually, citizenship for nearly 500,000 long-term residents. We honor the tireless work of immigrant communities and allies to achieve this outcome. However, our welcome should not stop with the spouses of U.S. citizens.

“Happily, the President also opens opportunities for DACA recipients to qualify for employment-based visas, another needed and reasonable step. We thank President Biden for addressing these deficiencies.

“Yet more needs to be done.

“DACA is under challenge in federal courts and is vulnerable to being ended. Even though as many as 68% of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, Congress has failed to act for them and other DACA recipients. This circumstance means that DACA recipients have been living with uncertainty for too long. Too many days and counting.

“Therefore, we continue to call on Congress to act as soon as possible to fix this and on President Biden to lead Congress in a compassionate direction to protect and strengthen DACA.

“Make no mistake: we welcome these executive actions by the administration. They are important. We are gratified that prudent steps are being taken. They are needed.

“And, we will not forget the nearly 10.5 million other undocumented people in need of relief from a U.S. immigration system that is largely indifferent to their suffering. We can not ignore a system that refuses to center welcome, compassion, and dignity as its organizing principles. We must not condone a system that fails to provide pathways to legal status or citizenship for so many people.”

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(See here for UUSJ’s immigration priorities.)

Established in 1999, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice is a network of Unitarian Universalist individuals and congregations that lifts up the light of reason, the warmth of community, and the flame of hope to advance equitable national policies and actions aligned with UU values through witness, education, and advocacy. We envision a just, compassionate, and sustainable world community. Follow us on Twitter @UUSJ