President Joe Biden enraged progressives this week when he clamped down on asylum at the southern border. Now he’s looking at policies that may appease them.
The administration is considering new actions for undocumented immigrants, lawmakers and immigration advocates say. The internal discussions come after Biden officials have spent months crafting Tuesday’s new border restrictions, with top aides fixated on beating back GOP criticism over the president’s handling of immigration.
White House officials privately pointed frustrated advocates to a part of Biden’s remarks on Tuesday, when he said in the “weeks ahead,” he would “speak on how we can make our immigration system more fair and more just,” according to two people familiar with the conversations, granted anonymity to discuss private exchanges. And a spokesperson for Sen. Alex Padilla said the California Democrat has heard directly from administration officials that the president is exploring options.
As part of that effort, White House officials are looking closely at "parole in place" for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens, which would shield them from deportation and allow them to work legally while they pursue a path to citizenship, the people said, adding that any moves may not come until after Biden’s debate this month with Donald Trump. The program could provide temporary relief for an estimated 1.2 million people.
“That’s the right signal for the White House to be sending, that they’re going to try to find more pathways to citizens for families who are caught in unconscionable circumstances,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told POLITICO on Wednesday after decrying Biden’s border action, which allows the president to shut down asylum in between ports of entry when it becomes overwhelmed, as “irresponsible and ill-advised” in a Tuesday statement.
The discussions speak to how delicate immigration remains for the president as he tries to walk a political tightrope on a vexing issue. Even as Biden’s team fights off the barrage of GOP attacks on high border crossings, his officials are also grappling with mounting pressure from the president’s highly vocal left flank to go beyond border security.
Biden officials acknowledge that there could be political gains in taking action for long-term, undocumented residents, as polls show Americans support border security as well as paths to citizenship, though they caution that it remains unclear whether the president will ultimately move forward. Biden campaign pollster Matt Barreto pointed to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) in 2012, which saw no backlash from white voters, moderates or swing voters. President Barack Obama ultimately did well with Latino voters, and when policies are rolled out with “a lot of care and thought,” Barreto added, “it goes back to my overarching point: the American public wants to see action taken on the immigration issue.”
“It would be consistent with everything he’s said in the State of the Union this year. He recommitted himself to finding a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,” Barreto said. “And at the same time he committed to taking action on border security if Congress didn’t. And so I think there’s an opportunity there, following in DACA’s footsteps, to continue to lead on immigration policy.”
For months, immigration advocates, Democrats on the Hill and local leaders have been pushing for the White House to follow its tough action with protections for long-term, undocumented residents like dreamers, caregivers, farmworkers and spouses of U.S. citizens and for the president to continue using his authorities to expand Temporary Protected Status. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus also pushed the White House on affirmative relief in a recent meeting, according to a senior staffer, granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting.
Progressives pounced after Biden’s announcement on Tuesday, issuing a slew of statements slamming his executive action and joining with advocacy groups in a press conference outside the Capitol to urge the president to both rescind his policy and to pivot to other forms of relief.
“The one silver lining,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told the crowd outside the Capitol on Tuesday, “is that [Biden] did say that there will be positive actions to make the system more humane and fair. And we will be looking and pushing for those actions in coming weeks.”
On Thursday, the advocacy group Human Rights First launched an online letter-writing campaign to urge the Biden administration to reverse its “harmful deterrent-based policies” and “work towards solutions that will expand access to safe pathways and restore access to asylum.” And advocates plan to spend the next few weeks ramping up these efforts, with op-eds, letters, press conferences and lobbying visits as they dial up the pressure on the White House to act.
“It is my hope that Biden goes back to the campaign promises that he made four years ago — that we will see policies that embrace immigrants and address some of the systemic problems that we have, including a lack of legal pathways and opportunity for more immigrants,” said Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center. “So I’m not giving up hope. I fully anticipate that this administration in the coming months will come out with some pro-immigration policies.”
The White House hasn’t taken any policy options off of the table, a White House official said, adding that no final decisions have been made.
Discussions inside the administration about its next moves come as Biden officials remain concerned about the situation at the southern border — their fears heightened by general-election polls showing immigration as both a top issue for voters and one on which the president gets poor marks, particularly against Trump. Biden’s aides believe moderate Democrats and independent voters will reward the president for cracking down on migration this week.
A mid-May Quinnipiac University poll showed a majority of voters (52 percent) thought Trump would do a better job handling immigration than Biden (41 percent). An April AP-NORC poll showed 56 percent of Americans believe Biden’s presidency has hurt the country when it comes to immigration and border security. And the 40 percent approval rating Biden notched for his handling of immigration in the Havard/Harris X May poll was the second-lowest of the 10 issues surveyed, behind only the war in Gaza.
“Immigration is never going to be a huge positive issue for [Democrats] in this cycle,” said Democratic pollster Paul Maslin. “But I think to a large extent Biden is reducing his losses, and that’s an important thing.”
Biden officials moved quickly this week to sell Biden’s executive action and believe it gives the president a good story to tell about his efforts to solve the problem at the border, in spite of Trump and Republicans blocking a bipartisan border deal in Congress. And the fresh round political ammo comes at a key moment — just three weeks before Biden is scheduled to debate Trump in Atlanta.
Advocates remain concerned that the border could overshadow internal discussions about policies for undocumented immigrants, particularly in the weeks and months ahead if Biden’s new policies are halted by the courts. But others are simply worried that the president’s team won’t move quickly enough.
“I’m not as worried about the political or legal pressure,” said one advocate, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “It’s more about putting pen to paper on the actual details of what they want to do.”
Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.
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