Saturday, October 12, 2024

President Obama Proposes Easing Rules for Green Cards

The Obama administration is proposing new rules that will reduce the amount of time undocumented immigrants are separated from their families while they apply for a green card.

Under the current process, undocumented immigrants must leave the country to obtain a visa in their home country but this can lead to a decade-long separation for families, causing extreme hardship.  The result is that many undocumented immigrants choose to remain in the country illegally and risk deportation.

“The goal is to substantially reduce the time that the U.S. citizen is separated from the spouse or child when that separation would yield an extreme hardship,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The new rules will not require Congressional approval and will be implemented by modifying regulations to provide waivers to undocumented immigrant family members of U.S. citizens.

Daily Kos