Central ND News

WASHINGTON — President Biden announced a plan on Tuesday to exempt certain illegal immigrants from deportation. According to the White House, 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens and approximately 50,000 noncitizen children under the age of 21 whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen will be allowed to stay in the country and become eligible for permanent legal status.

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued a statement regarding President Biden’s announcement.

“Not even two weeks after President Biden claimed to get tough on the border, he is desperately trying to appease his open-border base by creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the United States. Today’s action imposes a form of mass amnesty on the American people without their consent and is another incentive for illegal immigration. This ill-advised initiative is another sharp contrast between Biden skirting the law for political gain and the Trump administration’s focus on enforcing our existing immigration laws and securing our borders. We need a change in direction.”

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has experienced significant challenges at its borders. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported more than 7.8 million encounters with illegal immigrants at the southwest border over the last three years, and more than 9.5 million encounters nationwide. Recent reports revealed that thousands of illegal immigrants were granted “mass amnesty” by terminating more than 350,000 asylum cases in a two-year period.

Cramer led 20 of his Senate colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting detailed responses regarding the Biden administration’s handling of immigration and border security.