Top immigration experts are criticizing the Biden administration’s plan to implement “parole-in-place” for illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. This concept originated in a memo from President Bill Clinton in 1998 and has been used for non-citizen immediate family members of U.S. service members since 2016. It is expected that as many as half a million illegal immigrants will be shielded from deportation through an upcoming executive order expanding this program. Former Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan believes that this move will incentivize more illegal immigration and lead to an increase in marriage fraud, as the focus will be on spouses.
Homan, who served in the Trump administration, has expressed concerns that the parole-in-place program will encourage illegal immigrants to cross the border and “hide out” until they are granted amnesty. He believes that the Biden administration’s focus on such a program is misguided and will only lead to further immigration issues at the southern border. The criteria for qualifying for the program include having resided in the U.S. for at least 10 years, a legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen, and a clean criminal history.
Joe Edlow, former acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, has raised doubts about the estimated number of individuals who will qualify for the program. He believes that the Biden administration has essentially halted immigration enforcement for the past four years, making it difficult to predict the actual number of people who will be allowed to remain in the U.S. under parole-in-place. The potential for up to 500,000 or even more individuals to benefit from this program creates concerns about the impact it will have on the country’s population dynamics.
Dr. Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, has warned that the Biden administration’s plans for mass amnesty through the parole-in-place program could fundamentally alter the demographic landscape of the United States. He compared the potential influx of immigrants to adding the population of an entire state on top of the existing illegal immigrant population. This could have significant repercussions for American society and raise questions about the integrity of immigration laws and enforcement.
Overall, experts are critical of the Biden administration’s move to expand the parole-in-place program for illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. They believe that this initiative could lead to increased illegal immigration, marriage fraud, and challenges in maintaining the integrity of immigration laws. The potential impact on the demographic makeup of the U.S. population is also a cause for concern, with estimates suggesting that hundreds of thousands of individuals could benefit from this program. As the details of this program unfold, there are growing apprehensions about its implications for immigration policy and enforcement in the country.
