Biden Announces Path to Legal Status for Over Half a Million Illegal Aliens

President Joe Biden announced new actions on Tuesday that will allow over 500,000 illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. long-term the opportunity for legal status.

“Today, President Biden announced new actions for people who have been here many years to keep American families together and allow more young people to contribute to our economy,” said the announcement.

The new rules will allow certain illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. long-term and who are married to U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residency.

[RELATED: Biden Admin Offers ‘mass amnesty’ to migrants, Terminating 350,000 Asylum Cases: NYP…]

According to Biden Administration officials, the new rules could give 500,000 illegal immigrant spouses, along with roughly 50,000 illegal immigrant children under 21 who have a parent married to a citizen, lawful permanent residence with a path to citizenship.

The new program will help illegal immigrants, referred to as “the long-term undocumented,” apply for lawful status if they have been in the U.S. for 10 or more years and are married to a citizen.

The White House claimed in its announcement that the average recipient of the new policy has been in the country 23 years, rather than 10.

The new rules do not have any requirements on how long the couple has been married, so an illegal immigrant who was married one day before the announcement could be eligible for the new program.

The rules will not, however, apply to anyone married after the announcement, meaning that an illegal immigrant in the country over 10 years cannot marry a citizen just to gain legal status.

Biden claims that the new rules are a compassionate way to prevent the separation of families and stated, without specifying how, that the decision will benefit the economy.

“These actions will promote family unity and strengthen our economy, providing a significant benefit to the country and helping U.S. citizens and their non-citizen family members stay together,” said Biden.

In addition to furthering “family unity,” the move, which puts hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship, and thus voting rights, has the potential to add hundreds of thousands of Democrat voters to the country.

Despite some shift in recent years towards Republican support, Hispanic voters largely continue to prefer Democrat candidates over Republicans.

In the same announcement, Biden unveiled new rules that will allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, commonly called “Dreamers,” a path towards legal status and citizenship.

“Dreamers” are illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. as children who, under the Obama-era DACA rules, were allowed to continually apply for delayed deportation and to work in the U.S. without gaining official legal status.

Under the new rules, Dreamers, or any other illegal immigrants, who have received a college degree in the U.S., and have since been offered a job in a field relating to their degree by an American employer, will be able to receive a work visa, and thus legal status.

The rule does not require that the illegal immigrants have been in the country “long-term.”

Once again, Biden claimed that granting legal status to illegal immigrants who attended U.S. universities is in the “national interest,” although it is unclear why skilled jobs which could go to Americans going instead to illegal immigrants is in the national interest.

Biden’s administration has long made the legalization of DACA recipients a priority, although he has faced challenges from Congress, which has opposed the rules.

“Twelve years and 800,000 Dreamers later, DACA stands – allowing Dreamers who’ve lived here for most of their lives to work lawfully, pursue an education, open businesses, and make our communities stronger. Congress must provide permanent stability for them and their families,” said Biden on X last week.

Last month, the president shifted the rules surrounding the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

[RELATED: Biden Unveils Plan to Give Some Illegal Immigrants Taxpayer Funded Health-Care…]

That change allows Dreamers to receive taxpayer-funded medical welfare, as U.S. citizens struggle to pay for necessities, including health insurance.

Biden used Tuesday’s announcement to tout his recent executive order which allegedly secures the border, but which has been criticized by Republicans as an ineffective attempt to save face, rather than any real progress on border security.

The president also took the opportunity to frame Republicans as opponents of border security, despite numerous failed attempts by Republican lawmakers to make Biden take real action on the border.

“As Congressional Republicans have continued to put partisan politics ahead of national security – twice voting against the toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades – the President and his Administration have taken actions to secure the border,” said the announcement.

Biden’s border “security” actions were immediately followed by memos telling Border Patrol to continue releasing the majority of illegal immigrants into the country, in an apparent contradiction with the administration’s new order.

[RELATED: Report: Biden Ordered Illegal Aliens Released Into U.S. Days After Executive Order Allegedly Restricting Illegal Immigration…]

The security actions were also followed by a decision to grant mass amnesty to 350,000 illegal immigrants, who had their asylum cases closed, essentially giving them license to stay in the country illegally indefinitely.