Los Angeles, Aug 20: Miguel Aleman, a 39-year-old brought to the United States from Mexico at the age of 4, is among hundreds of thousands of immigrants hoping to find a path to citizenship through a new Biden administration program set to launch on Monday.Without the program, Aleman, who has two young children with his U.S.-citizen wife and works as an Uber driver, would have to relocate to Mexico—possibly for a decade or longer—before being allowed to return legally.
Aleman is one of dozens of immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, and the Philippines who attended an information session on the program organized by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles on Friday.
“Keeping Families Together,” announced in June, will be open to an estimated 500,000 spouses who have lived in the United States for at least 10 years as of June 17, according to Biden administration officials. Approximately 50,000 children under the age of 21 with a U.S.-citizen parent will also be eligible.
Biden unveiled the legalization program before dropping out of the presidential race against Republican Donald Trump, an immigration hardliner, in July. Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic candidate earlier this month and is scheduled to formally accept the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday.
Trump has criticized Harris for the record number of migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since she and Biden took office in 2021. Harris has countered by highlighting her enforcement record and Trump’s opposition to a bipartisan border security bill that failed to advance in the U.S. Senate earlier this year.
At campaign events in Arizona and Nevada this month, Harris called for “an earned pathway to citizenship” for immigrants in the United States illegally.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt labeled the citizenship program a “mass amnesty” in June and reiterated Trump’s pledge to deport historic numbers of immigrants in the country illegally if re-elected.
“Keeping Families Together” allows qualifying spouses to apply for permanent residence without departing the United States when they would otherwise need to leave for years before being permitted to return. A spouse who obtains permanent residence, also known as a green card, can apply for citizenship in three years.
The program is likely to face Republican-led legal challenges.
The initiative could offer a path to citizenship for some people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides deportation relief and work permits to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.
DACA was launched in 2012 by President Barack Obama while Biden was vice president. Trump tried to end the DACA program during his 2017-2021 presidency but was blocked by the Supreme Court. Texas and other states with Republican attorneys general have continued to challenge DACA’s legality.
Aleman is enrolled in DACA but hopes to receive permanent status through “Keeping Families Together.”
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