NEW: Beginning on August 19, 2024, eligible immigrant families will be able to apply for the recently announced Biden family unity program to keep families together while they adjust their legal status
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) today released the following statement applauding the Biden-Harris Administration’s new initiatives aimed at advancing education and economic opportunities and making commonsense updates to our broken immigration system that will help immigrant families across the country build their American Dream. President Joe Biden’s new actions include helping thousands of Nevada Dreamers pursue higher education and expanding access to legal representation and immigration services to help hardworking immigrant families navigate our complex immigration system. Additionally, the administration announced that eligible spouses and children will be able to apply for the new Biden family unity program beginning on August 19, 2024.
“I’m pleased to see the administration heeding my calls to ensure that hardworking families in Nevada have access to the opportunities they deserve,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “These actions will strengthen our economy, make it easier for Nevada Dreamers to succeed in college, and expand access to legal and immigration resources for hardworking immigrant families. I’ll continue fighting in the Senate to make these changes permanent, and I encourage Nevadans to contact my office for help navigating the application process for the new family unity program.”
In Nevada alone, there are nearly 136,000 U.S. citizens living with at least one family member who is undocumented and over 10,000 DACA recipients contributing to our communities and paying taxes. The Biden-Harris administration’s new policies will:
- Establish a new initiative to support Hispanic-Service Institutions (HSIs) in their work to help students obtain educational success and economic mobility. This initiative will also promote federal recruitment efforts and participation of HSIs in federal programs and encourage private-public partnerships to support college students. Nevada currently has five HSIs – College of Southern Nevada; Nevada State University; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Truckee Meadows Community College; and Western Nevada College.
- Expand the TRIO program—which supports first-generation college students from underrepresented backgrounds—to include Dreamers.
- Improve access for immigrant families to legal representation and immigration services by bringing more immigration assistance programs to underserved communities, expanding the Department of Justice’s Attorney of the Day program, and launching the USCIS to You initiative to boost new citizenship programs.
- Provide an update to the new process for eligible, long-term undocumented residents to get work permits and potentially apply for legal permanent residency and for American employers to sponsor Dreamers for visas.
Click HERE for more information on President Biden’s executive actions and HERE for more information regarding the administration’s family unity program, including eligibility criteria.
The first and only Latina Senator, Senator Cortez Masto has stood up for Nevada’s students throughout her time in the Senate, and has consistently pushed to fix our broken immigration system by balancing critical border security measures with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers. She has introduced legislation to reform the Pell Grant and federal student loan system so that more Nevadans can access higher education. She has also consistently supported federal funding for Minority-Serving Institutions, including the five Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Nevada. She’s an original cosponsor of the Dream Act to provide relief for DACA recipients, and she’s leading legislation to allow them to work in Congress. She successfully pushed the administration to expand health care access for DACA recipients, and she’s led calls to address delays in DACA renewal applications and make it easier for mixed status families, family caregivers, and hardworking immigrant families to stay together.
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