The new policy is expected to protect approximately 500,000 immigrants, and would also make it easier for some undocumented immigrants to get a green card and a path to U.S. citizenship.
President Joe Biden is reportedly expected to announce his latest immigration policy on Tuesday, which will include deportation protections for undocumented migrants that are married to U.S. citizens.
The order would come after Biden issued an executive order earlier this month, which bars illegal immigrants from receiving asylum when there are high levels of encounters at the southern border.
The new policy is expected to protect approximately 500,000 immigrants, and would also make it easier for some undocumented immigrants to get a green card and path to U.S. citizenship, four unnamed sources told NBC News. The migrants would be able to apply for work permits, but two of the sources said the couple would need to have been married and lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years in order to apply for the permit.
Three sources also said Biden is expected to issue a new order for people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, if they earned college degrees and are looking for a job in the field they studied. The new orders would come shortly after the 12th anniversary of DACA, which took place on Saturday.
“This is the biggest thing since DACA,” one of the sources, an immigration advocate, told NBC.
The upcoming order would likely be challenged in court. The recent orders on limiting border crossings have already been challenged by critics who claim he invoked the same authority as former President Donald Trump.
Under the recent orders, illegal immigrants who enter the country without going through one of the regular ports of entry could face a five-year ban on seeking asylum, or legal action.
