Immigration advocates see work permits as Biden’s best option

Speculation over Biden’s next play on immigration has reached a fever pitch, with reports of imminent executive action on two fronts: expanded work permits and a crackdown on asylum at the border. The Biden administration is trying to thread the needle between support for mixed-status families and strict enforcement at the border. At least one of the measures in the advocates’ wish list, temporary protected status (TPS), is a commonly used program that’s proven resilient against court action and has already been aggressively used by the Biden administration. Advocates are also eyeing an existing program that currently allows undocumented spouses of U.S. military service members to regularize their status, which could be expanded to apply to all spouses of U.S. citizens without legislative changes.