C.A.N. Statement
Biden’s Immigration Relief For 500,000 Immigrants and Dreamers

Washington, D.C., (June 21, 2024) – College Access for Non-Citizens is aware of President Biden’s decision to implement parole authority to protect 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens, including eligible married DACA recipients, and approximately 50,000 non-citizen children whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen. Through this Executive Order, spouses of U.S. citizens will be provided access to work authorization and an adjustment of parole that will facilitate their path to permanent residency and citizenship. This policy adjustment is a relief for non-citizen spouses who entered the U.S. without inspection and risk family separation while applying for lawful permanent residence—a status for which they are already eligible. Additionally, DACA recipients and other Dreamers with U.S. college degrees and a related job offer will have a quicker path in pursuing work visas.

College Access for Non-Citizens emphasizes that these policy changes are only possible because of the many immigrant advocates, organizers, and community members who work tirelessly around the nation to attain justice for immigrant families, including our leadership who has been at the forefront of the immigration movement in Washington, D.C. In May 2023, Sheila and Melanie Cruz-Morales, Directors of College Access for Non-Citizens, met with the Biden administration's leadership to discuss the challenges our undocumented community faces. They urged the administration to leverage its executive power to pursue impactful solutions that expand human rights and protections to undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients, including undocumented youth and elders who have contributed to the U.S. for decades without recognition of their humanity.

While we honor the sacredness of keeping families together, support those who are eligible for these policy changes, and uplift the relief that our movement seldom experiences, we must remain committed to our core values and mission: an urgent end to inhumane immigration policies, achieving broader dignifying solutions, and demanding comprehensive immigration reform that provides a just pathway to citizenship. We firmly believe that no one is free until we are all free.

Biden’s executive order, touted as the most transformative immigration policy move by U.S. media, the Democratic Party, and organizations, comes during a critical and desperate time in the election cycle. Let us be clear: this political move is calculated for high political gain with minimal risk. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is implementing some of the harshest immigration policies to date, including shutting down the border to refugees, crippling the asylum process, and continuing to adhere to the right-wing agenda and Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

We refuse to let our community’s long neglect and desperation be exploited by creating a false sense of security and a narrative that only serves the interests of a political party and not the people. President Biden has avoided using his executive power to create broader, mitigating, and tangible solutions for the broken immigration system.

C.A.N. will not be passive as we witness our community being used for political gain. We implore the broader immigration movement to reject the scarcity mindset that holds our movement back, diverting us from achieving bolder, broader, and transformative change that truly grants justice to our elders, undocumented youth, and the generations that have waited for immigration reform over the last 40 years. We hold space and validate the millions of undocumented people across the country, of all ages and backgrounds, who are grieving their freedom this week—as they witness their livelihoods and futures being toyed with again by politics and white supremacy.

We hope that the implementation of these policy adjustments is efficient and swift, ensuring people will benefit from this executive order as soon as possible. We stress that the fight continues to attain a pathway to citizenship for all. College Access for Non-Citizens will always advocate for all our community members, for the expansion of access to higher education, and for the liberation of undocumented people in the United States. We will continue to demand Congress to get to work and deliver real solutions to fix the broken immigration system.

En La Lucha, 

College Access for Non-Citizens