'This is a massive amnesty that Congress never authorized,' an immigration expert tells Fox News Digital
Chicago migrants on finding work in DNC host city
Migrants from Venezuela and Cuba spoke with Fox News Digital outside their Windy City shelter Thursday. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
The Biden-Harris administration kicked off what critics call an amnesty program for illegal immigrants during the week of the Democratic National Convention.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services calls it "Keeping Families Together," which will make an estimated 500,000 noncitizen spouses and another 50,000 noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens eligible for parole.
The agency specifies, "Noncitizens who are present in the United States without admission or parole may be considered for parole in place under this process." Admission means being legally authorized to be in the country with a green card, visa or other reasons.
"This is a massive amnesty that Congress never authorized," Andrew Arthur, resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital.
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Migrants are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico via an abandoned railroad on June 28, 2024 in Jacumba Hot Springs, San Diego, California. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
"Under a Harris-Walz administration, everybody in the country illegally could eventually be eligible for a process like this," added Arthur, a former immigration judge. "It would hold Republicans' feet to the fire to undo it thereafter, but as we’ve seen with DACA, administrative amnesties are difficult to undo."
DACA, an acronym for Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, was a 2012 executive action by President Barack Obama’s administration, giving legal status to the children of illegal immigrants.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), for the new "Keeping Families Together" program, the spouse must have been physically in the United States for 10 years "without admission or parole;" "have no disqualifying criminal history and otherwise not deemed to be a threat to public safety, national security, or border security;" and undergo background checks.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden appeared together hours after a report came out that she was seeking "distance" from his policies. (Getty Images)
Noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens must have been under the age of 21 since last June, when the executive action was first announced; have a noncitizen parent married to a U.S. citizen before June; and have no disqualifying criminal history.
However, even the criminal history portion of the policy has a caveat. The USCIS added that an applicant with a criminal record can become eligible by "demonstrating positive factors that can be considered in overcoming this presumption and showing that they warrant a favorable exercise of discretion."
Additionally, illegal immigrants in the middle of removal proceedings could still get parole under the process, according to the USCIS website.
"If you have a final unexecuted removal order, non-disqualifying criminal history, or other derogatory information in your case, you may provide additional documentation that you believe demonstrates your parole is warranted based on a significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian reasons, and that you merit a favorable exercise of discretion," the USCIS says.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
