The Trump campaign on Tuesday blasted a move from the Biden administration to allow certain immigrants lacking documentation who are married to U.S. citizens to stay in the country and work legally, claiming it will lead to a surge in migration.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement describing migrants as a burden for taxpayers and a drain on social welfare programs. She also characterized Tuesday’s announcement as “mass amnesty,” though to be eligible, prospective parolees must have been in the United States for 10 years as of Monday.
“Biden only cares about one thing — power — and that’s why he is giving mass amnesty and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals who he knows will ultimately vote for him and the Open Border Democrat Party,” Leavitt said.
“Biden’s mass amnesty plan will undoubtedly lead to a greater surge in migrant crime, cost taxpayers millions of dollars they cannot afford, overwhelm public services, and steal Social Security and Medicare benefits from American seniors to fund benefits for illegals — draining the programs Americans paid into their entire working lives,” she added. “Biden has created another invitation for illegal immigration through his mass amnesty order.”
Biden’s announcement comes as he is set to mark the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program at the White House with immigrant advocacy and Latino leaders.
The expansion of parole in place, as the regularization program is known, will be paired with measures to make the work visa application easier for immigrants living in the country illegally — particularly DACA beneficiaries — who have graduated from U.S. colleges.
Beneficiaries won’t receive new privileges; existing paths to regularize their migratory status will be streamlined under the new rules.
Tuesday’s effort follows a crackdown on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border that angered the same groups the new measure is designed to please.
Biden had for months urged Congress to pass a bipartisan border security bill negotiated in the Senate, but it faced opposition from Republicans, including presumptive GOP nominee former President Trump.
Trump and his campaign have repeatedly attacked Biden over immigration and border security, tying him to instances of crime allegedly committed by migrants and citing record-high numbers of detentions along the southern border.