‘Huge relief’: Families react to Biden’s immigration order

DENVER (KDVR) — President Joe Biden unveiled a new program Tuesday that will allow spouses and children of U.S. citizens to stay in the country, and his administration says it will help about a half million undocumented immigrants — including here in Colorado.

A big focus of the president’s plan is keeping families together. Advocates said it’s a good step forward, but there is more work to be done.

“This is a momentous occasion, and it demonstrates that for nearly 30 years, advocates and families and attorneys and elected officials, business leaders and faith leaders, have called on Congress to reform our deeply broken immigration system,” said state Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver.

In order to qualify, people have to be married as of June 17, 2024, and living in the U.S. for at least 10 years. Once the Department of Homeland Security approves the application for the families, those eligible will have three years to apply for permanent residency. As it stands right now, people who are caught in the U.S. illegally have to leave the country before they re-enter legally and try to get a green card.

Families with immigrants: ‘Amazing,’ ‘huge relief’

Gonzales and immigration lawyer Hans Meyer celebrated Biden’s executive order allowing a path to citizenship for spouses here illegally. Meyer said he has helped mixed-status families 8-14 hours a day, six days a week for the past 18 years in Colorado. He believes the impact on families in Colorado will be far-reaching.

“Currently, somebody who is in the country without status has to navigate a five- to eight-year process to obtain the residency that they are legally entitled to apply for,” Meyer said, adding that it requires them to be separated from their families for an interview in their country of origin.

The process was something families, like Estephania and her husband Alejandro, worried about before the announcement.

“I think about broken families, and that’s what it’s been in my family before and that’s what we’ve experienced. So for us, for Alejandro not to have to leave the United States to be able to really finalize this process, is amazing,” Estephania said.

Ed Markowitz also shared his reaction with FOX31. His family went through years of tumult after his wife had to leave the U.S. despite her getting married to her husband and raising a family in Lakewood.

“This raises the awareness of what our ultimate, permanent relief must be, which is Congress needs to act on legislation. But for this part, it’s a huge relief. If you hear something that sounds like thunder, it’s half a million American citizens and their spouses falling to their knees in gratitude,” Markowitz said.

Immigration action trims time to green card

Some Republicans have said the action will only lead to a flood of more migrants coming in illegally. Myers said it clarified a process already in place.

“They have to follow the same legal process, they have to jump through the same hoops, legally speaking. It just means we can follow that process in a year or a year and a half instead of eight. It gives opportunities for people to stay with their children, to stay with their spouses, to continue to work in the country, pay taxes, be contributing members of their community and navigate the legal process so they can obtain their green cards,” Meyers said.

Attorneys feel the qualifications for the program are narrow but still feel it is a positive step forward. Advocates are urging Congress to act on immigration reform.

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