Parole in Place to Promote the Unity & Stability of Families Set to Begin August 19, 2024

On July 17, 2024, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that undocumented spouses and children of US citizens who are eligible to apply for legal status and a pathway to citizenship through the parole in place process may submit applications starting August 19, 2024.  Additional details about eligibility and the application process will be published in a “forthcoming Federal Register notice.”

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Biden Unveils Relief Program for Undocumented Spouses and Children of US Citizens and Dreamers

On June 18, 2024, President Biden formally announced an immigration program that will afford legal status and a pathway to citizenship to undocumented spouses and children of US citizens who have been living in the US for at least ten years as well as ease the transition to employment-based nonimmigrant status for Dreamers with a US degree and a job offer.

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Recent Ruling puts DACA in Jeopardy (Again)

On September 13, 2023, the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that the Biden Administration’s codification of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) is not legal. The ruling does not prevent DACA beneficiaries enrolled in the program prior to July 16, 2021, to renew their status.  United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will also continue to accept new applications from first-time, would-be DACA recipients; However, they will not process any new applications.

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DACA is Codified, but Remains in Jeopardy

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program celebrated a decade of existence earlier this year. DACA went into effect as an executive order signed by President Obama to protect undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors without “the formal agency rulemaking process, which requires public notice and comment”. It was intended as a “stopgap measure to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable immigrants”, from deportation and allow beneficiaries to obtain work authorization and reside legally in the US. DACA was never meant to be a permanent solution but a means to be used for a limited time until Congress passed new immigration legislation addressing the immigration status of certain undocumented minors.

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