On Wednesday, President Biden’s campaign manager appeared to dodge questions about whether the president’s new executive order giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship was a political move aimed at shoring up more votes ahead of Election Day on the 5th. of November.
Julie Chávez Rodríguez appeared on CBS News’ “America Decides” for an interview with Fin Gómez that aired Wednesday night.
Gómez asked Rodríguez why the president’s new policy was implemented now “four and a half months before the November 5 elections.”
President Biden speaks during an event commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at the White House. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Rodríguez said immigration reform has been one of the Biden administration’s top priorities since day one. He also criticized former President Trump for encouraging Republicans to vote against a bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year.
Gomez asked if Rodriguez believed Biden’s new policy would encourage “mixed-status families” who benefit from it to vote for the president.
Rodriguez said families who are eligible for Biden’s executive order “will be able to sleep better tonight knowing they have the opportunity to help ensure they are not separated by cruel policies.”
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“You will be able to hug each other a little tighter knowing that you can stay together as a complete family in this country as a result of this executive order. Those are the things that matter most,” Rodriguez said.
Gómez noted that many Latino voters are turning away from President Biden and asked Rodríguez to respond to critics who say the executive order is a “political measure to maintain support among Latino voters.”
President Biden is announcing new changes to keep together families who have DACA Dreamer spouses seeking to change their immigration status. (Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Rodriguez again invoked the president’s record on immigration since taking office, including expanding the Affordable Care Act for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
At no time was the topic of border security mentioned in the interview. Fox News Digital has reached out to Biden’s campaign team and the White House for additional comment.
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Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will allow spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status to apply for permanent residency and eventually citizenship without first having to leave the country for up to 10 years. According to senior administration officials, some 500,000 immigrants could benefit.
To qualify, an immigrant must have lived in the United States for 10 years and be married to a U.S. citizen, both as of Monday.
Immigrant rights activists participate in a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court in 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
The Obama-era DACA program, which has protected hundreds of thousands of people who came to the United States as children from deportation, required applicants to be in the United States on June 15, 2012, and continuously for five years. previous years.
More than 1 million illegal immigrants living in the United States are married to American citizens, according to the advocacy group FWD.us, meaning hundreds of thousands will not qualify because they were in the United States for less than 10 years.
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About 50,000 noncitizen children whose parents are married to a U.S. citizen could also qualify, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
Biden also announced new regulations that will allow some DACA recipients and other young immigrants to more easily qualify for long-established work visas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
