PHOENIX – Rodrigo de la Rosa was just 5 years old when he crossed the US-Mexico border with his father and three brothers. Growing up in South Phoenix, he had what he calls “just a normal American life” — until he learned he was undocumented as a teenager.
“When you turn 16 and can’t get a regular job, that’s when you realize, ‘Oh, I’m different,'” she said.
In his mid-20s, de la Rosa married Ashley de Alba, who was born and raised in California to Mexican and Salvadoran parents. But marrying a US citizen was not enough to correct her immigration status. He could apply for a green card, but first he would have to leave the country and risk being stuck in Mexico for a decade or even permanently.
That changed on Monday, when the federal government began accepting applications for the sweep a new Biden administration program that allows undocumented spouses US citizens applying to adjust their status without leaving the US The White House estimates that the program is in place 500,000 immigrants across the country, as well as an additional 50,000 to their children (stepchildren of American citizen spouses).
To be eligible, applicants must have been married to a US citizen by June 17, when the program was first announced; no disqualifying criminal history (this includes all felonies and a range of other crimes, such as domestic violence and most drug offenses); and prove that they have lived in the United States continuously for at least 10 years (the government average is more than twenty years).
Those whose applications are approved will be granted a form of legal aid known as “parole in situ,” which protects them from deportation and allows them to apply for work permits, green cards, and eventually citizenship.
It has the potential to fundamentally change the lives of millions of people.
“We could do the things we really wanted to do,” said Ashley de Alba, de la Rosa’s wife. “We have many lofty goals”
The list of ways De la Rosa would have changed their lives if they had received the papers is long. De Alba is seven months pregnant with her first child, a daughter. Although de la Rosa worked mainly for art houses and built scaffolding for stucco crews, he got good grades in school and had a passion for photography and media; a work permit and green card would allow him to secure a more stable, secure job with insurance and retirement benefits.
“It would allow me to better provide for my family and have the career I want,” de la Rosa said.
It will also remove frustrating but meaningful obstacles to bureaucratic aspects of married life, such as joint bank accounts and home ownership. That would free de la Rosa to travel internationally without having to worry about how to get back to the U.S. — including Mexico, to see her older brothers and nieces she’s never met. And it would allow de la Rosa and de Alba to have their dream wedding in Mexico: “A big, Mexican wedding — like a really fancy, Jalisco-style wedding,” de Alba said.
“Watch out” in swing states
In a swing state like Arizona, a probation program has the potential to move the needle in a meaningful way in November’s presidential election. De Alba voted for Donald Trump in 2020 — she said she admired his business acumen, believed the economy was in better shape when he was in office, and appreciated that he “wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.” She was ready to vote for him again in November, but is now undecided.
“It’s the Biden administration that put this in place, so I’m very grateful for that,” de Alba said. Joe Biden’s own withdrawal from the race has increased his interest in the Democratic ticket, although he does not yet know enough about Vice President Kamala Harris to finalize his decision.
“I want to see how long it lasts,” de Alba said. “Is it just a gimmick for votes? Or is it something they really take seriously and will pursue? After that, I will make my decision.”
Arizona has about 15,000 people eligible for parole, according to FWD.us, a pro-immigration group that advocates for the program. Although they themselves cannot vote, they are all married to US citizens who can vote, and enter families and communities full of citizens who would otherwise indirectly benefit from the policy.
Given that Biden won Arizona in 2020 by 10,457 votes and polls showing razor-thin margins between Harris and Trump, the political impact of the parole program could be decisive.
Erica Castro, an undocumented community organizer for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada — another state with a large and long-term immigrant population — said the parole program has helped energize Latino voters.
“People are paying attention,” he said. “They want to know what the candidates are doing to improve their quality of life, and that’s something that makes them feel like their voice is being taken seriously.”
FWD.us estimates that about 60,000 parole-eligible immigrants live in swing states.
One of them is Foday Turay, who lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young child. Turay — a member of American Families United, a nonprofit group that lobbied for executive action — was brought to the United States from Sierra Leone as a child and now works as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia district attorney’s office. He says his wife, who is from New Jersey, plans to vote for Harris in November just because of the program.
“We are a family with one issue, and that issue is immigration,” Turay said. “My wife and her whole family would never vote. They will vote now because they understand that someone they love will benefit from this program.”
As consistent as DACA – it also faces challenges
Immigrant rights advocates bill parole as the largest and most effective form of aid for undocumented immigrants since 2012’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the Obama administration’s program that offered work permits and protection from deportation to immigrants brought to the United States as children. they describe. (Many of those applying for parole are or were at one time DACA recipients, including de la Rosa and Turay.)
Like DACA, parole was established by presidential executive action, making the program inherently dangerous.
There are Republicans strongly condemned the program, Trump called it a “mass amnesty” on Truth Social, while Senator Josh Hawley called it “illegal” and “illegal” on Fox News. America First Legal, a legal organization led by Stephen Miller, the architect of many of Trump’s immigration policies, has vowed to challenge the program in court, and a future Trump administration is all but certain to repeal it.
The prospect of a Trump victory is giving some lawyers and advocates pause when it comes to encouraging people to apply for the program. Although many potential applicants (including those with DACA status) are already on the federal government’s radar, those who are not may be reluctant to hand over large amounts of personal information to a government that could soon be led by a candidate who promises discrimination. mass deportations.
“I think people need to tread carefully and document [an application] only after understanding all the risks and potential obstacles,” said Arizona immigration attorney Mo Goldman.
But for families willing to apply, the program has the potential to right what they see as a longstanding injustice. De Alba notes that her husband spent his entire adult life working and paying taxes in the United States, but was left out of many of the benefits she enjoyed.
“Why? Just because I was born here? I could have been born in Mexico, but because I was born here, I can do all these things that make my life so much easier. It makes no sense,” he said. “I just want him to have the same opportunities that I have.”
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