On the website of the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, these words appear in big letters, announcing an even bigger policy shift: “Process to Promote the Unity and Stability of Families.”
For undocumented residents of the U.S. who have lived here for at least 10 years and are married to American citizens, that means that the government has opened up a new way to lawfully obtain a green card. It is “a key step toward fulfilling President Biden’s commitment to promoting family unity in the immigration system,” the Department of Homeland Security said in an announcement this week.
The change revolves around the concept of “parole in place,” meaning that people can wait out the green card process in the U.S. rather than having to go back to their home countries while their applications for lawful residence are processed. Before this policy shift, which was announced in June, that is what undocumented individuals had to do.
“The parole in place would be the equivalent to that lawful admission,” said Lucia Damerau, an immigration attorney for Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island (OLA).
“The main issue is how they entered [the U.S.]. That’s what’s preventing them from getting a green card — it’s looked at as a big violation.”
The measure is expected to allow about half a million people to remain in the country legally, according to Homeland Security, which says that on average, those people have lived here for 23 years. The department expects about 50,000 children of noncitizen spouses to also be eligible for green cards under the new program.
Once an application for a green card is in place — approval takes a few years, at least — the person can then apply for a work permit to obtain legal employment here, Ms. Damerau noted.
“This means a light at the end of the tunnel, it means hope, it means progress. Ten years in a country, in a community, that really forges roots in that community,” she said. “This really means being able to stabilize your status and being able to become financially stable. It is an amazing opportunity for many people to be able to finally legalize their status, find permanency in this country, feel safe, and not worry they are going to be deported.”
Beyond the requirements for residency of at least 10 years and marriage to a citizen spouse, applicants must “have no disqualifying criminal convictions; do not pose a threat to national security and public safety and pass vetting; are otherwise eligible to apply for adjustment of status, and merit a favorable exercise of discretion.”
On the East End, with many communities that are home to large immigrant populations, OLA anticipates being unable, in most cases, to assist. That is because a family with a non-citizen spouse must make a minimum threshold of income in order to petition for a green card; OLA mostly helps people who don’t qualify under this.
Ms. Damerau said OLA hasn’t gotten many calls about it. “I think that maybe people don’t have access to this information, or perhaps our population on the East End are not in this situation,” she said. “It will be interesting, now that OLA has put out a statement . . . to see how many people reach out to us. My fear is that we won’t be able to help them. We do have, on standby, a few private people that we trust to refer them to.”
Johanna Sanchez, owner of Bilingual Law Practice in East Hampton and Riverhead, has done preliminary screenings for about 30 clients so far for eligibility under this new procedure. “I don’t have a specific number” of people on the East End who may qualify, she said, “but I can estimate it will probably be a couple of thousand people.”
While the government is not accepting applications until Aug. 19, both Ms. Sanchez and Ms. Damerau warned that scammers are already trying to take advantage of vulnerable people, claiming to be able to expedite their applications, for a fee.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of people complain to me about what they see on TikTok or Instagram — attorneys already advertising this program and helping them get the process done quicker and faster,” Ms. Sanchez said, “but that’s really not possible because the form and filing fee haven’t even been released. If you were to file anything now, it would just be rejected.”
One helpful thing people can do now, she added, is begin gathering documents establishing who they are, whom they are married to, and how long they have been living in the U.S.
Not everyone has welcomed the new policy. Congressman Nick LaLota, a Republican who represents eastern Suffolk, was asked for his opinion of it and submitted the following response:
“As former President Clinton stated at his 1995 State of the Union, ‘We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it.’ ”
“Following that reasonable dichotomy, America must hold accountable those who willfully broke our immigration laws with appropriate consequences before there can be any discussion of rewarding those same immigration law-breakers with permanent legal residence. To do otherwise, as the Biden-Harris Administration proposes, would be, as Clinton said, ‘self-defeating,’ and encourage more illegal immigration.”
Immigration experts here, on the other hand, while applauding the new policy, say Congress must do more to stabilize and support immigration processes. “We still have a long way to go, and I would love to see some permanency for DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] recipients, but one step at a time is better than no step at all,” Ms. Damerau said.
“Something is better than nothing at this point, so it’s definitely progress,” Ms. Sanchez agreed. “I know a lot of people in this community out east who, if all goes well, will definitely benefit from this program.”
WITH REPORTING BY DENIS HARTNETT
