‘Green cards’ for undocumented spouses of Americans: “A hope for many”

María Villanueva and Gustavo Villeda met in 2019 in a church in Silver Spring, a suburb north of the capital of USAand although they fell in love and started dating, she was reluctant to marry him because she didn’t want to “suffer” by a reality that was already familiar to him.

Villeda, born in Guatemala, emigrated to the United States in 2004 irregularly and it is this status – which he has not been able to adjust – that made Villanueva, a Mexican with American nationality, doubt whether or not to cross the altar.

Today, not only do they live together and got married last summer, but they have a two-month-old son together.

“I said that I was never going to marry someone who did not have papers, out of fear and anguish that they could separate us.“, explains the 32-year-old with a laugh in an interview with EFE from the dining room of her home in the small town of Laurel (Maryland).

She left Mexico when she was barely 7 years old to join her father – who already lived in the United States – while her husband emigrated as an adult with the expectations that the ‘American dream’ would allow him to send money to a sick daughter he left in Guatemala. and that he is about to turn 20 years old.

“I haven’t seen her grow up and I don’t want this to happen to me again with him.“, he says, looking at his son Alfonso Jesús, who sleeps next to him in his mother’s arms. They are both sitting on the sofa in the living room, presided over by a set of photographs from their wedding hanging on the wall and visible as soon as they enter the small home.

The couple agrees that, once married, the great impediment to trying to settle Gustavo’s papers has been the economic factor. “I suffer from severe migraine, we have needed the money for doctors and we have not been able to allocate it to the application (for regularization)”María points out.

But now the uncertain situation of this family can change because Villeda is one of the more than half a million migrants eligible to benefit from the new program, announced last Tuesday by the Government of President Joe Biden, and thus regularize their status in the country. .

The measures mainly benefit people married to US citizens – a condition that he meets – who will be able to take the first step in the process to obtain a residence permit in the United States.

Gustavo, still assimilating the new opportunity that has been presented to him, assures that the news has reached him “by surprise” and, although he does not know in detail how the process continues, he is optimistic when faced with “a hope for many”.

Supported by a legal figure known as ‘parole’, this permit grants those who are already in US territory protection against deportation and allows them to apply for a work permit.

With the work authorization, which will be valid for three years, migrants who entered the country irregularly and are married to US citizens can apply for residency and, subsequently, citizenship.

To qualify for this formula, the person must have married a US citizen before June 17, 2024 and have lived in the country for at least 10 years.

At the same time, months before this announcement comes into effect, the couple does not overlook the fact that next November there will be presidential elections in the country that could change everything.

“We are worried that all this could come to nothing, that it could be ruined by a change of government or by disputes between them.“, says María, questioning the presumed presidential candidates -Joe Biden and Donald Trump-, although she is convinced that “take the risks” and to take advantage of these months prior to the elections.

“We hope that you respect the families who, like us, are going through this situation and who have been fighting for reform“adds the woman, who is a collaborator of CASA, an NGO that defends and assists immigration.

Even with all the difficulties in mind, they both agree that there is hope and they are willing to continue looking for it.