Republicans have accused President Biden of trying to influence the 2024 election with a measure that would make it easier for undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to obtain green card status, with some making the dubious claim that it will boost Democratic turnout by November.
Former President Trump, who had said he would reverse Biden’s orders if elected, said Biden was just “taking advantage” of immigrants.
“But he’s going to let anybody in. You know what they’re going to do. They’re going to register these people,” Trump said at a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday afternoon.
There are many inaccuracies in the cynical reaction to the relief package announced on Tuesday for an estimated 550,000 people.
The order streamlines the process of regularizing immigration status, such as applying for a work visa, and eliminates the need for certain immigrants to leave the country and apply for permanent residency abroad, a process that can require years of waiting.
But this will not result in an influx of hundreds of thousands of new citizens, and they certainly will not be added to the voter rolls before the 2024 elections.
Still, fears of a current or future influx of Democratic voters are a central part of Republican resistance to Biden’s actions.
Caroline Leavitt, a national spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, echoed that sentiment in a statement the same day, saying Biden is “offering massive amnesty and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who he knows will ultimately vote for him and open-border Democrats.”
“That’s their strategy: Get as many people registered to vote as possible,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. “They don’t care about the citizens, they don’t care about these people. They’re just looking for voters. [to] They should do everything they can before the next election because they know the outcome is in sight.”
In response to Tuberville’s comments, one House Democrat quipped about the notoriously slow nature of the federal immigration bureaucracy.
“I wish USCIS had moved this quickly,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), referring to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that processes immigration applications.
For Republicans in Congress, who rejected a border compromise supported by Biden earlier this year, the executive order also confirms their distrust of Biden on border and immigration policy.
President Biden issued new executive orders earlier this month aimed at cracking down on border crossings and turning away migrants seeking asylum at the border on high-daily contact days, after Republicans largely rejected similar measures in a compromise border bill earlier this year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Biden was “trying to have the best of both worlds” with the two executive orders.
“The President may see our homeland security as a game he can play to score political points, but Americans know that this amnesty plan will only encourage more illegal immigrants and put Americans at risk,” Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson also said Biden’s actions were “clear evidence that the Democrats are trying to turn illegal immigrants into voters,” and said he predicted they would be challenged and rejected in court.
President Biden announced the new measures on Tuesday at an event marking the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, saying the relief package was not a political move.
“Folks, I’m not going to play politics on the border or immigration. What I’m interested in is solving those problems. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it today: I will work with anyone to solve these problems. That’s my responsibility as president. That’s our responsibility as Americans,” Biden said.
The White House also emphasized that the relief measures are only available to certain groups.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference Tuesday that President Biden’s relief package “is only applicable to a limited population.”
“It’s not for people arriving now, so we’ve tried to give this a scope, so to speak,” Jean-Pierre said.
Republicans have widely viewed Biden’s executive order as a political calculation, but some have drawn a distinction between which specific voters in the next election will be affected. Rep. Josh Bretchen (R-Okla.) stated in the post Social platform X claimed Biden’s actions were an “attempt to appease family members who are seeking to boost their votes in the next election.”
All direct beneficiaries of Biden’s new plan will not be able to vote in the 2024 election, but their spouses who are U.S. citizens will be able to vote.
Even in the best-case scenario, undocumented immigrants who would immediately begin applying for permanent residency under the new policy would have a hard time voting in the 2028 presidential election.
It takes at least 10 months for spouses of U.S. citizens to receive their green cards, and then they must wait three years (while still married) before they are eligible to apply for naturalization, which takes an average of eight months to process from the time of filing.
Taking into account the 90-day early naturalization allowance, the shortest period in which a beneficiary can become a U.S. citizen is approximately 50 months, or 52 months and 20 days until the 2028 election.
One Republican who has advocated for immigration reform avoided misleading claims about new voters in his response to Biden’s order, but still called it a political move.
“President Biden’s latest executive order on immigration is a blatant political move with questionable constitutional implications in an election year,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said in a statement.
“These executive orders are counterproductive and will do nothing to alleviate the ongoing chaos at the southern border. [Department of Homeland Security] “Overwhelmed, Border Patrol agents are barely able to handle the influx of people, including dangerous individuals, crossing into our country.”
Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) argued that President Biden’s executive order contributes to policies that encourage illegal immigration.
“People understand that if they get here, President Biden will allow them to stay and they’ll have a path to citizenship,” Cornyn said. “That’s a big draw and it’s going to draw even more people.”
Al Weaver, Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano contributed reporting.
