The Obama administration is trying to take unilateral action – without Congress – and expand a 2013 rule to give even more illegal immigrants the ability to stay in America.
The Department of Homeland Security has proposed an expansion to a waiver system enacted in 2013 that allows illegals to stay in-country for up to 10 years if they prove "extreme hardship," Breitbart reported.
In 2013, DHS explained the rule this way: "[The] process allow[s] such aliens to apply for a provisional waiver prior to departing for DOS consular processing of their immigrant visa applications. Instead of requiring them to wait abroad while USCIS adjudicates their application for a waiver of inadmissibility through the Form I–601 waiver process, the provisional waiver process established in 2013 allowed those applicants to remain in the United States with their U.S. citizen relative(s) while awaiting notification of USCIS’s decision on their provisional waiver application."
TRENDING: Greatest Show on Earth: The Hur report hearing
Obama's administration now wants to add to the list of eligible categories of illegals.
The proposal says "the provisional waiver process would be made available to all aliens who are statutorily eligible for waivers of inadmissibility based on unlawful presence and meet certain other conditions," the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Among those new categories would be "family-sponsored immigrants, employment-based immigrants, certain special immigrants and Diversity Visa program selectees, together with their derivative spouses and children." Breitbart reported Homeland Security would also expand on the definition of "extreme hardship" and open the doors to several more categories.
Jessica Vaughan with the Center for Immigration Studies said in a statement to Breitbart the proposed rules are a "slap in the face to the many legal immigrants who abide by the law, follow the process and wait their turn."
She also said Obama "should not be issuing executive actions that serve only to expedite the legalization process for those who have ignored our laws" and "this legalization gimmick is undermining the integrity of our legal immigration system."
She called on Congress to "take steps to block it," the Washington Free Beacon said.