Policy & Research/Policy Brief/News/Immigration/Legal Avenues/Pathway

American Families United Act
Priority Bill Spotlight

This bipartisan legislation would help U.S. citizens sponsor their spouses and children for green cards, keeping mixed-status families together in the U.S.

October 5th, 2023

Jason Rochester and his son Ashton share their story at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol

Jason Rochester and his son Ashton speak about the American Families United Act at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol

Although U.S. citizens are generally allowed to sponsor their spouses and children for lawful permanent residence (a green card), millions of mixed-status families are unable to complete the process because of some eligibility bars in the immigration laws that are difficult to overcome, and often impossible.

Jason Rochester, a U.S. citizen, and his wife Cecilia faced this heartbreaking challenge. After their son Ashton was diagnosed with cancer, Cecilia, who was undocumented, followed inaccurate advice from a lawyer and left the U.S. to return to Mexico. She hoped to return quickly with a green card, sponsored by her husband. But because she had re-entered the U.S. without authorization multiple times, even though it was many years earlier, she was subject to a permanent re-entry bar, which she can overcome only after 10 years outside the U.S. It is possible she may never be allowed to return to her family.

The American Families United Act (H.R. 1698) would help families like Jason and Cecilia’s by granting immigration judges and officials authority to weigh the impact that family separation would have on a U.S. citizen if their undocumented spouse or child were denied a visa or received a deportation order, and to grant these families relief, case by case.

Many U.S. citizens are unable to sponsor their spouses and children for green cards

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens have experienced family separation as their spouse was refused a visa or was removed from the U.S., according to American Families United, a volunteer-led organization of U.S. citizens with family members who cannot secure lawful status because of eligibility bars.

After being undocumented in the U.S. for some time, many immigrants face significant challenges adjusting their status, even if they are married to a U.S. citizen. For example, they may be subject to bars on re-entry that would prevent them from receiving a visa if they leave the U.S. and try to return through a legal channel. If they entered without authorization multiple times, even when they were very young, and even if they have current immigration protections like DACA¹, they could be permanently barred. And all individuals living undocumented in the U.S. are generally at risk of deportation.

Immigration judges and officers are bound by law in what considerations they can make when reviewing cases, so these older and relatively minor infractions end up imposing huge, long-lasting, devastating consequences—even if the penalties would cause serious harm to the families.

The lack of options forces families to make impossible choices about the country they call home and the people they love. Unable to access lawful status, undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens live every day at risk of deportation. If they leave, their whole family must leave, or they’ll be separated for a decade or more. This uncertainty puts incredible strain on millions of American families and the communities who value and rely on them.

The American Families United Act would prioritize keeping families together

The American Families United Act would authorize immigration judges and officers to exercise discretion when handling cases involving spouses and children of U.S. citizens, including allowing them to remain in the U.S. with their families and to receive their green cards.

The bipartisan legislation was reintroduced by Representatives Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and María Salazar (R-FL). The legislation has been reintroduced in every session of Congress since 2013, and was passed by the House Judiciary committee during the previous session of Congress, though it never received a full House vote.

Specifically, the American Families United Act would give discretionary authority for immigration judges or officers adjudicating applications to waive, on a case-by-case basis, certain immigration penalties or eligibility requirements² that might expose the spouse or child of a U.S. citizen to removal or cause their green card application to be denied, if their removal or denial would cause hardship to their American spouse, child, or parent. It would also affirm the principle of family unity by establishing a presumption that family separation constitutes a hardship.

1.1 million undocumented people in the U.S. have a U.S. citizen spouse, with potentially hundreds of thousands more living outside of the U.S.

According to FWD.us, some 3.6 million people live in a mixed-status family that contains an undocumented spouse of a U.S. citizen, of which 2.5 million are U.S. citizens. In total, 1.1 million undocumented people¹ in the U.S. have a U.S. citizen spouse. These undocumented spouses are on average 41 years old, have lived in the U.S.on average 16 years, and many have been married to their U.S. citizen spouses for at least a decade. Some 90,000 of these undocumented spouses are DACA recipients.

Source: FWD.us analysis of 2021 American Community Survey data, using this methodology for the assignment of immigrant status.

Legislation like the American Families United Act would provide some relief and certainty to families living every day with the threat of being separated from one another, the way the Rochesters have been, with no options to make things right. Family unity has long been a foundational principle in our immigration system, and this change would give immigration authorities the power to protect it.

Providing a pathway to citizenship for family members, particularly undocumented spouses and children, would bring important economic benefits for their families and for the broader economy, as well. FWD.us analysis shows that undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens would contribute an additional $16 billion annually in spending power to the U.S. economy, along with an additional $5 billion in federal, payroll, state, and local taxes, if they were U.S. citizens. Most (80%) have high school diplomas and have some college education (41%), with the majority (71%) already working in the U.S. labor force. With lawful work authorization, they would be more flexible to work in industries that have a high number of job openings, helping fill critical job openings, and easing inflationary pressures caused by labor shortages.

U.S. citizens should not have to choose between their country and their families. FWD.us supports the American Families United Act, and urges Members in both parties to co-sponsor this common sense legislation.

Notes

Earlier FWD.us publications, based on FWD.us' methodology for assigning immigration status to respondents in the 2019 American Community Survey data, estimated a higher number (nearly 1.7 million) of undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizen spouses. This most recent estimate of 1.1 million individuals, however, reflects different, and likely more plausible, methodological assumptions placed on the underlying 2021 American Community Survey data. The difference in estimates do not reflect a change in the actual population size; instead, it is the result of different methodological techniques in estimating the immigration status of immigrants.