Washington
CNN
—
Seeking to bolster the Hispanic vote in Nevada and Arizona in his re-election bid, President Joe Biden is quickly moving to implement new measures focused on granting legal status to long-term illegal immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens, following executive orders last week aimed at curbing border crossings.
While final details have yet to be worked out, officials are considering an existing legal authority known as “parole,” which protects certain undocumented immigrants from deportation and allows them to work in the country legally while they work toward citizenship. The order has not yet been presented to Biden personally for consideration.
Polls reviewed by senior White House and presidential aides helped secure the deal.
“It’s all on the line, right?” for Biden in Arizona, said Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. “My sense is that it should help.”
The number of people who could be directly affected is estimated at 750,000 to 800,000 – spouses, children, relatives and friends, mostly Latino. Millions of votes will be counted in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia alone – all battleground states with large Latino populations where a handful of electoral votes will likely decide the outcome in November.
“We’ve lost our narrative on the border, so we need to start reclaiming it,” said one person involved in discussions about why Biden launched an executive order last week tightening asylum rules.
But “Latino voters, especially, are very keen to see something done to help people they know – their direct relatives, their friends, people they work with,” the person argued. “That’s a very strong signal to these communities that you care about them and that you understand what’s going on there.”
This could be the largest federal relief program since the Obama-era Deferred Action for Removal program for young immigrants, which allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to live and work in the country and was announced in mid-June 2012 after President Obama was re-elected.
Several veterans of Obama’s reelection campaign say that moment marked a key turning point in Obama’s bid for a second term. Biden, who was vice president at the time, was involved in many of those discussions.
People involved in internal discussions said a focus on workers and preserving family ties would allow Biden to make the case for economic growth as well as a starkly different vision of immigration from that of Donald Trump.
The Trump campaign has also been working to gain support from Latino voters through various public relations and advertising efforts, such as launching a Latino Trump support group at the former president’s rally in Las Vegas on Sunday. Nevertheless, on Thursday night in Arizona, Trump called former sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was infamous for cracking down on illegal immigrants and was pardoned by President Trump for illegal racism, onto the stage and kissed him.
Some believe Biden may not act on the measure, but aides are debating when is the best time to announce it. One option would be to announce it before the June 27 debate, provoking Trump to attack the widely popular order.
But some worry that giving Trump that opportunity could lead to voters turning against the border measures, calling them “amnesty.” Delaying the announcement would deprive Trump of that opportunity while perhaps putting Biden back in the spotlight with a Fourth of July theme. Others, however, point out that the White House often misses internal deadlines, which could push the announcement back into late July.
Kelly said he hears every week not only from constituents facing issues due to their ID status, but also from CEOs who want more employees. Kelly and his wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, “we know people and their families that these policies will directly impact, and I think that’s true for most people in Arizona,” Kelly said. “Our coworkers, our coworkers’ relatives, friends and family.”
In an effort to quell criticism from a number of leading Latino and immigrant advocacy groups of Biden’s border enforcement executive orders, several operatives linked to the president had been quietly reassuring leaders for days that more steps were coming.
They urged leaders not to risk angering lawmakers in the White House or putting themselves at too much risk when circumstances could change.
Later, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas left the door open for further immigration measures, saying in an online briefing Thursday with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Progressive Caucus that the administration is considering options that could extend protections to undocumented immigrants who have been in the U.S. for long periods, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Biden campaign strategists have cited polling showing Latinos also support border security and argue that the twin measures of border security and legalizing long-term illegal immigrants will win over Latino voters who have turned away from Biden.
And it’s not just immigrants and Latinos: Democrats, Republicans, independents and from all backgrounds, Biden aides believe there is near-universal support for opening a path to citizenship for immigrants who have lived in the US for years, passed background checks and paid taxes, and for allowing families to stay together, according to a memo obtained by CNN outlining a series of polling results shared with the White House and Biden campaign.
The numbers also show strong support for expanding work authorization to Dreamers and other undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for years, passed background checks and have no criminal records. Other polls reviewed by the Biden campaign have shown similar levels of support.
Biden casually alluded to the measures himself when he announced the border measures on Tuesday, acknowledging the backlash he had received from some immigration advocates and progressives who have slammed his asylum restrictions.
Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN she felt Biden had been “put in the same bracket as Donald Trump at the very moment we need to distinguish between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”
“To those who say the steps I’ve taken are too harsh, I say be patient,” Biden said. “Over the next few weeks, week I’m going to talk to you about how we can make our immigration system more fair and just.”
Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi was hailed by many in his party as a national role model after he successfully fought off Republican attacks centered on immigration and the border situation in a February special election to retake a suburban New York City House seat. After standing alongside Biden at the White House, Suozzi told CNN he has already written the president a letter urging him to take next steps.
Suozzi argued that because many believe marrying an American automatically grants citizenship, providing actual documentation to non-citizen family members would be “an easy, simple solution that most Americans believe is already done and that most Americans support.”
“It’s great for the economy, it’s great for families and it’s great for America,” Suozzi said.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who also visited Washington on Tuesday and met with President Biden at the White House, said the new moves at the border are crucial and that the next steps will also be important to voters in her state and across the Southwest in November.
“Voters want a fair president who understands their struggles, who is prepared to make tough decisions, who is willing to balance efforts that are focused on the realities of public safety while making it clear that he can’t do it all,” Lujan Grisham said. “You’re going to see more of that. And that’s a valve: putting smart, effective policy where it’s needed now. And he delivers on both.”
White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez did not go into details but told CNN, “As we have said before, the administration continues to consider a range of policy options and remains committed to taking action to address our dysfunctional immigration system.”
The reelection campaign has come under growing pressure for months from Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates for further policy changes amid growing panic among Biden’s aides about a decline in Hispanic supporters.
In May, a group of Democratic senators, including Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, publicly called for extending protections to undocumented immigrants who have been in the U.S. for long periods, including spouses of U.S. citizens and their caregivers.
Padilla said Biden’s actions at the border starting Tuesday were a big disappointment.
“This is the first time that I can remember that the Democratic position has been, ‘OK, we’re all for the border, but we’re not going to fight for relief for DREAMers, or for farmers, or for long-term residents of the United States who are here illegally,'” Padilla told CNN after Tuesday’s announcement.
Biden shouldn’t wait now to take further action, Padilla argued.
“If they were going to take tough measures at the border, they should have combined them with equally thoughtful and responsible measures, and it’s a step that’s long overdue,” Padilla said.
Advocates who have long promoted the measure set to be presented to Biden are now themselves highlighting its potential political benefits.
“As the 12th anniversary of the DACA program approaches, President Obama’s decision to take bold executive action to support our nation’s Dreamers was a masterpiece of political ingenuity and the most successful immigration policy in decades,” FWD.us President Todd Schulte said in a statement. “Today, President Biden faces a similarly critical moment.”
