White House preps 'dreamers' celebration while President Biden eyes new benefits for immigrants

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host a White House event next week celebrating an Obama-era directive that offered deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants, as his own administration prepares potential new benefits for others without legal status but with long-standing ties in the United States.

White House officials are closing in on a plan that would tap Biden’s executive powers to shield spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status from deportation, offer them work permits and ease their path toward permanent residency and eventually American citizenship, according to five people with knowledge of the deliberations.

The people said those actions could be unveiled as early as next week, although a White House official stressed Thursday that no final decisions have been made on what Biden will announce, if anything. As of earlier this week, Biden had not been presented with the proposal for his final approval, adding to the uncertainty for the timing of any announcement. The president is currently in Italy participating in the Group of Seven summit of the world’s wealthiest democracies.

But Biden telegraphed last week as he rolled out his directive to crack down on asylum claims at the border — a move that has infuriated immigrant-rights groups and many Democratic lawmakers — that he would be announcing other actions more to the advocates’ liking.