Biden nears next big move on immigration as he tries to win over Latinos in key states

washington
CNN
–

Seeking to bolster Latino votes in Nevada and Arizona for his reelection campaign, President Joe Biden is poised to soon follow up last week’s executive action aimed at restricting border crossings with another measure focused on providing legal status to long-term undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens.

While final details have not been decided, officials are reviewing an existing legal authority known as “in-force parole,” which would protect selected undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the country while they seek citizenship. The orders have not yet been presented to Biden himself for review.

Polls analyzed by top advisers at the White House and the president’s re-election headquarters are helping to seal the deal.

For Biden in Arizona, “everything is on the sidelines, right?” said Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly. “My feeling is that it should help.”

Estimates place the number of people who could be directly affected at between 750,000 and 800,000, with an effect affecting spouses, children, extended family and friends – and predominantly Latinos. There are millions of potential votes in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia alone. These are all swing states, all home to many Latinos and all likely to be decided in November by slices of the electorate.

“We lost the narrative at the border and so we need to start getting it back,” said one person involved in discussions about why Biden initiated executive action tightening asylum rules last week.

But “Latino voters in particular are extremely excited to see something done to help the people they know. Or it’s a direct relative or friend, someone you work with”, argued that person. “It’s a really powerful signal to those communities that you care about them and understand what’s going on there.”

This could represent the largest aid program from the federal government since the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This program, which allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to live and work in the country, was announced in mid-June, the year of Obama’s re-election in 2012.

Several veterans of Obama’s re-election point to this moment as a fundamental turning point in his bid for a second term. Biden, then vice president, was involved in many of these discussions.

People involved in the internal discussions say that by focusing on workers and keeping families together, Biden would be able to defend economic growth, as well as affirm a very different portrait of immigrants than that defended by Donald Trump.

The Trump campaign has also sought to attract Latino voters, with the launch of a Latinos for Trump group timed for the former president’s rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, among other outreach and publicity activities. Still, on Thursday night in Arizona, Trump took the stage and kissed former sheriff Joe Arpaio, famous for his crackdown on undocumented immigrants and who received Trump’s presidential pardon for illegal racial discrimination.

While some still think Biden may not move forward with the change, aides have discussed when it would be best to make the announcement. One option is to do so before the June 27 debate, with the aim of inciting Trump to attack the widely popular orders.

Some fear, however, that giving Trump this opening could lead voters to turn against the border executive action, calling the measures “amnesty.” Making the announcement later would deprive Trump of that possibility, while also giving Biden another boost in attention, perhaps with a Fourth of July theme. Others say it could happen later that month, especially in the White House, where internal deadlines are often missed.

Kelly said every week he hears from voters who face problems arising from their legal status, but also from CEOs looking for more workers. He and his wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, “know the people these policies directly affect and their families. I think that’s true for most Arizonans,” Kelly said. “It’s co-workers, it’s a relative of a co-worker, it’s a friend, it’s a family member.”

To quell criticism among many major Latino and immigration advocacy groups about Biden’s executive action to crack down on border crossings, several operatives linked to the president spent days quietly reassuring leaders that more was to come.

They urged these leaders not to risk frustrating the West Wing or taking too many risks when circumstances might change.

Then on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas kept the door open to more immigration measures in a virtual briefing with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, saying the administration is looking at possible options to extend protections to long-term undocumented immigrants. residing in the United States, according to a family source.

Strategists working with the Biden campaign argue that the dual measures — border security and legalization for long-term undocumented immigrants — will appeal to Latino voters who have turned away from Biden, citing polls that show Latinos also favor enforcement. of the borders.

And not just among immigrants or Latinos. Among Democrats, Republicans and independents and of all backgrounds, Biden aides believe there is near-universal support for keeping families together by creating pathways to citizenship for immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for many years and pass a background check. and pay taxes, according to a memo obtained by CNN summarizing a set of findings shared with the White House and the Biden campaign.

These numbers also show overwhelming support for expanding work authorizations for Dreamers and other undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for many years and passed background checks and who have no criminal record. Other polls conducted by the Biden campaign show similar levels of support.

Biden himself not-so-subtly teased the move when announcing the border action on Tuesday, acknowledging the backlash from some immigrant advocates and progressives who have criticized his asylum restrictions.

Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal told CNN that she felt Biden “has entered the same picture as Donald Trump at the very moment when we need to make a distinction between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”

“To those who say the measures I’ve taken are too strict, I say to you: be patient,” Biden said. “Over the next few weeks – and I mean the weeks ahead – I’ll talk about how we can make our immigration system fairer and more just.”

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi was hailed by many in his party as a national example when he won back his old House seat from the New York suburbs in a February special election, successfully fending off Republican attacks focused on immigration and the situation at the border. He told CNN after being with Biden at the White House that he has already written a letter to the president asking for the next step.

Suozzi argued that so many people believe that citizenship comes automatically from marriage to an American that actually providing documentation to people from non-citizen families would be “an easy, straightforward solution that most Americans think already happens and that most Americans would support ”.

“It would be great for the economy, it would be great for families and it would be great for America,” Suozzi said.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who also flew to Washington to be at Biden’s side at the White House on Tuesday, said the new moves at the border are extremely important — and that the next steps will also be critical to voters in your state and across the Southwest in November.

“Voters want a fair president who understands their struggles, who is willing to make difficult decisions, who is clear that he cannot do everything, but who tries to balance these efforts by leaning into public safety realities where he should,” he said. Lujan Grisham. . “There’s more coming – and it’s a valve. It uses smart, effective policies where you need them now. He gets both.”

White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández declined to address specifics but told CNN: “As we have said before, the administration continues to explore a range of policy options and we remain committed to taking steps to address our system. immigration policy is bankrupt.”

As panic among Biden aides over falling support for Latinos grows around his re-election campaign, pressure for more policy action from Democratic lawmakers and immigrant advocacy groups has been growing for months.

In May, a group of Democratic senators, including Senators Alex Padilla of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, publicly called for protections to be extended to long-term undocumented immigrants in the United States, including the spouses of American citizens. and their caregivers.

Padilla said Biden’s actions at the border on Tuesday were a huge disappointment.

“This is the first time I can remember that a Democratic position is, ‘OK, let’s all be pro-border and not fight for aid — for the DREAMers, for the farmers, or for anyone who is a longtime resident of the US. United States that happens to have no documents,” Padilla told CNN after Tuesday’s announcement.

Now Biden shouldn’t wait to take additional steps, Padilla argued.

“If they were going to take tough action at the border, they should have combined it with something so thoughtful and responsible — and late,” Padilla said.

Advocates who have long pushed for the measures about to be presented to Biden are now highlighting the potential political benefits themselves.

“As we approach the 12th anniversary of the DACA program, President Obama’s decision to take bold executive action to support our nation’s Dreamers remains a masterstroke of political ingenuity and the most successful immigration policy in decades ,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, in a statement. “Today, President Biden faces a similar pivotal moment.”