Although she first moved to metro Atlanta as an infant, and married a U.S. citizen in January, Pamela remains an undocumented immigrant with a future in this country that is, at best, murky.
For couples like Pamela, 27, and her partner, recent days have been an emotional rollercoaster.
On Aug. 19, the Biden administration launched a new immigration program to benefit undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens, offering a path to citizenship. Just four days later, Georgia joined 15 other Republican-led states in filing a lawsuit to stop the program in its tracks.
The Texas federal judge presiding over the case on Monday issued an order to temporarily block the initiative — a blow for immigrants and their advocates, who had been celebrating the new policy as immigration emerges as a top voting issue this election cycle.
“It brought me to tears at one point,” Pamela said of the moment she heard news of the ruling. “It was pretty devastating and I still feel like I’m processing it.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has agreed to not publish Pamela’s last name because she lacks legal status and fears deportation.
Dubbed Keeping Families Together, the momentous Biden policy would have allowed many undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for a form of legal status known as parole in place. Parole recipients are protected from deportation, and they are eligible for work permits and even green cards — a crucial step in the naturalization process.
“We were so excited, just because it felt like a step in the right direction. It would have opened up so many doors, alleviated a lot of stressors,” Pamela said.
Pamela filed her application for parole just three days after the program’s launch. She and her husband went out to a nice restaurant that night to celebrate.
Now, that application is on hold.
Immigrant rights advocates described Keeping Families Together as the most sweeping form of relief for the country’s undocumented population since 2012, when the Obama administration created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which instituted protections for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Over the years, Republican legal challenges hobbled DACA — a factor that played a role in Pamela’s inability to benefit from the program — and they were quick to file a lawsuit in opposition to Keeping Families Together.
According to the 56-page complaint, Georgia and the other states that brought suit would be “irreparably harmed” by the policy, which plaintiffs argued would encourage more unauthorized migration.
“Shame on the Biden-Harris administration for pushing this illegal policy that will give false hope to families,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement to the AJC. “Under our Constitution, neither President Biden nor Vice President Harris has the authority to completely disregard our laws and unilaterally grant amnesty.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an email on Tuesday that the department will continue to accept applications as it defends the program in court, though none will be processed while the administrative stay is in effect. Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas set the stay for two weeks, but it can be extended.
The spokesperson said the now-paused program “enables U.S. citizens and their family members to live without fear of separation, consistent with fundamental American values.”
DHS has previously defended the program as being “well-established in legal authority.”
Eligibility requirements were designed to be strict.
To qualify, applicants must show they’ve been living in the U.S. continuously for at least 10 years, and have no disqualifying criminal history (which includes all felonies and a number of other crimes, such as domestic violence). Government estimates put the number of eligible people at 500,000 nationwide. In Georgia, 12,000 undocumented adults are believed to meet the requirements, according to FWD.us, a pro-immigration group.
Immigration attorney Charles Kuck said his office received a lot of calls as word spread about the program last week.
“I have not seen this many smiles since 2012,” said Kuck, who conceded the program represents “probably the outer limit of the president’s power” on immigration.
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‘We’re afraid’
Jennifer Hamamoto is an immigration attorney and Managing Director of Immigration at the Latin American Association, a nonprofit headquartered on Buford Highway that serves immigrants. On the weekend before applications were set to open, she led an information session about Keeping Families Together at the the nonprofit’s office. It drew over 80 people, which she said is a clear sign of community interest.
Hamamoto said the program being halted is a setback for the American partners of undocumented immigrants, as well.
“It’s a disappointment for all the people who had all these hopes of getting some sort of stability,” Hamamoto said. “These are spouses of U.S. citizens. You’re making U.S. citizens suffer because of who they ended up falling in love with and marrying and forming a family with. It’s unfortunate that they are not willing to cut these individuals some slack.”
Undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens can still obtain legal status outside of the program. But that process mandates immigrants return to their native countries for consular interviews, and years can pass before they are cleared to return to the U.S., causing painful separations with loved ones.
Pamela said that was a risk she felt uncomfortable taking. Keeping Families Together, she said, would have been a faster and more hassle-free avenue to getting a green card.
“It is disappointing, short-sighted, and un-American that a measure that supported American citizens to keep their families together is blocked,” Gigi Pedraza, executive director of the Latino Community Fund Georgia, said in a statement. “This is a direct effort to undermine family unity and only creates distress for folks interested and wanting to regularize their situation.”
Immigration experts say that, should the program survive the legal challenge, a more existential threat could come next year. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has pledged to enact mass deportations, and he’s expected to kill the Keeping Families Together program if he retakes the White House.
Tracy González is a South Georgia resident whose husband came to the U.S. without authorization. González said she has long been waiting for the government to act on the issue.
“We don’t have any stability. And it’s very frightening to live that way. We don’t ever know from day to day what might happen,” she said. “We’re afraid. We live with the fear every day of having to be separated from our spouses.”
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