Padilla Statement on the Implementation of Program to Keep Families Together
Starting today, eligible noncitizen spouses can apply for parole in place here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, issued the following statement after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services posted the application for the Biden-Harris Administration’s Keeping Families Together program. This program allows eligible noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to work lawfully and apply to adjust to a lawful permanent resident status. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that approximately 500,000 noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens — who have resided in the United States for 23 years, on average — could be eligible for parole in place under Keeping Families Together, along with 50,000 noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens:
“Today marks a historic day for thousands of mixed-status American families who have been forced to live in uncertainty about their future for far too long. Starting today, eligible undocumented noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens can apply for parole in place, and if approved, work lawfully and apply for lawful permanent resident status without leaving the United States and being separated from their families. Families should not be forced apart for years due to a broken immigration system. Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions, thousands of mixed-status American families can stay and plan for a future together.”
More information on the Keeping Families Together program is available here. A frequently asked questions page is available here.
Earlier this year, Senator Padilla and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led 17 Senate Democrats in requesting administrative relief for undocumented individuals and DACA recipients in the United States, including the actions announced by President Biden earlier this summer. In May, Padilla led a press conference alongside immigration advocates and called on the Biden-Harris Administration to streamline pathways to lawful status for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens, family caregivers, and other long-term residents.
Padilla has fought relentlessly to expand pathways to citizenship, including through legislation to expand a pathway to permanency for millions of long-term U.S. residents. His Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929 Act would update the existing Registry statute so that certain noncitizens may qualify for lawful permanent resident status if they meet certain conditions, providing a much-needed pathway to a green card for more than 8 million people, including Dreamers, TPS holders, children of long-term visa holders, essential workers, and highly skilled members of our workforce. He also introduced the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented essential workers, including Dreamers.
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