IN FOCUS - June 21, 2024

Call it immigration triangulation.

Just two weeks after issuing an executive order to stem the flow of illegal immigration across the southern border, President Biden followed-up this week with an additional executive action to expand legal protections for certain undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens. The measure allows eligible individuals to file paperwork seeking legal status, and to remain in the country and work while their application is processed.

Biden made his announcement on the 12-year anniversary of President Obama’s implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Then, as now, the President was in the midst of a difficult re-election campaign and needed to energize his base while appealing to moderate and progressive voters. 

Biden’s order is a direct appeal to the estimated 300,000 voters in “mixed status” households across Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, three swing states where he has been trailing Donald Trump. Presumably, these are also states where a large number of undecided voters are friends, family members and neighbors of families benefited by the order.

Illegal immigration and border security has been Biden’s biggest political vulnerability in Sun Belt states like Arizona. But it remains to be seen whether his latest gambit will appeal - or alienate - the coalition of law-and-order-minded moderates and progressives that Biden will need in November.