November 16, 2023 

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden 

President of the United States 

The White House 

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

Washington, D.C. 20500 

The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas 

Secretary of Homeland Security 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

2707 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE 

Washington, DC 20528 

Dear President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, 

We write to urge you to use your parole authority to protect the spouses of U.S. citizens. 

To that end, the administration should consider granting parole in place, on a case-by-case basis, 

to the spouses of U.S. citizens who are physically present in the country without admission. We 

also urge you to create a family reunification parole process for the spouses of U.S. citizens who 

are outside the United States. These actions are consistent with the President’s statutory parole 

authority and would promote family unity, provide immediate relief to millions of families who 

have been separated or live in constant fear of deportation, and are in line with existing family 

reunification parole processes for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, 

Honduras, and Ecuador. 

Under Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the Secretary is 

authorized to parole individuals into the United States, on a case-by-case basis, for urgent 

humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. This parole authority has a long and 

bipartisan tradition. It has been used extensively by both Democratic and Republican 

administrations since the Eisenhower administration.1 

The parole authority under Section 212(d)(5) of the INA also extends to individuals who 

are already physically present in the country. For example, since 2007, military parole in place 

has been available to the spouses, parents, and sons and daughters of U.S. military service 

members and veterans, who are physically present in the United States without admission.2 

Since 2013, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved 

39,780 applications for military parole in place.3 

1

 Examples include the parole of 58,000 Cubans between 1961 and 1962, 15,000 Chinese refugees from Hong Kong 

between 1962 and 1966, and over 130,000 Southeast Asian refugees following the fall of Saigon in 1975. See 

Refugee Timeline, U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND MMIGR I . SRVS (Feb. 7, 2023), https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/ourhistory/history-office-and-library/featured-stories-from-the-uscis-history-office-and-library/refugee-timeline. 2 Discretionary Options for Military Members, Enlistees and Their Families, Military, U.S. Citizenship and 

Immigration Services (Apr. 25, 2022), https://www.uscis.gov/military/discretionary-options-for-military-membersenlistees-and-their-families. 3

 Information provided By USCIS (on file with the House Committee on the Judiciary). This data is from 2013 

through 6/14/2022. 
 

Reports indicate that nearly 1.1 million U.S. citizens are married to an undocumented 

person,4

 and approximately 4.9 million U.S. citizen children have at least one undocumented 

parent.5

 These families live in a constant state of fear and uncertainty. Many of them are fearful 

of driving, accessing much-needed health care, and reporting crimes. The fear of deportation 

has been associated with psychological stress and biological processes linked to an increased risk 

of chronic disease for children in such families.6 

Granting parole in place, on a case-by-case basis, to the spouses of U.S. citizens who are 

physically present in the country without admission would provide immediate relief to millions 

of mixed-status families in our communities. It would allow them to come out of the shadows 

and live meaningfully without the constant fear of deportation. The parole in place process 

would also allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to thoroughly vet each applicant 

while allowing the individual to apply for work authorization. It is also estimated that it would 

add $16 billion to the U.S. economy and $5 billion in taxes per year.7

 Likewise, a family 

reunification parole process for the spouses of U.S. citizens who are outside the United States 

would allow vetted individuals with already approved family-based petitions to be paroled into 

the United States, on a case-by-case basis. 

These actions are directly in line with your administration’s strategy “centered on the 

basic premise that our country is safer, stronger, and more prosperous with a fair and orderly 

immigration system that welcomes immigrants, keeps families together, and allows people 

across the country—both newly arrived immigrants and people who have lived here for 

generations—to more fully contribute to our country.”8 

The administration has the ability to make significant and meaningful reforms through 

the statutory parole authority already granted to it by Congress. We strongly urge the 

administration to use this authority to the fullest extent possible. 

Sincerely, 

4

 Andrew Moriarty, American Families United Act Priority Bill Spotlight, Fwd.Us (Oct. 5, 2023), 

https://www.fwd.us/news/american-families-united-act/. 5

 Philip Connor, Immigration reform can keep millions of mixed-status families together, FWD.US (Sept. 9, 2021), 

https://www.fwd.us/news/mixed-status-families/. 6

 A. Martinez, L. Ruelas, and D. Granger, Household fear of deportation in Mexican-origin families: Relation to 

body mass index percentiles and salivary uric acid, AM J HUM BIOL. 2017; L. Rojas-Flores, M. Clements, J. Hwang 

Koo, and J. London, Trauma and psychological distress in Latino citizen children following parental detention and 

deportation, PSYCHOL TRAUMA 2017. 7 American Families United Act Priority Bill Spotlight, FWD.us (Oct. 5, 2023), https://www.fwd.us/news/americanfamilies-united-act/. 8 The Biden-Harris Administration Immediate Priorities, The White House, https://www.whitehouse.gov/priorities/. 
Pramila Jayapal 

Ranking Member 

Immigration Integrity, 

Security, and Enforcement 

Veronica Escobar 

Member of Congress 

Jerrold Nadler 

Member of Congress 

Ranking Member, Committee 

on the Judiciary 

Yvette D. Clarke 

Member of Congress 

Jesús G. "Chuy" García 

Member of Congress 

James P. McGovern 

Member of Congress 

Delia C. Ramirez 

Member of Congress 

Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. 

Member of Congress 

Eleanor Holmes Norton 

Member of Congress 

Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. 

Member of Congress 
Robert Garcia 

Member of Congress 

Becca Balint 

Member of Congress 

Dan Goldman 

Member of Congress 

Nikema Williams 

Member of Congress 

Nanette Diaz Barragán 

Member of Congress 

Chairwoman, Congressional 

Hispanic Caucus 

Deborah K. Ross 

Member of Congress 

Salud Carbajal 

Member of Congress 

Jasmine Crockett 

Member of Congress 

Madeleine Dean 

Member of Congress 

Grace F. Napolitano 

Member of Congress 
André Carson 

Member of Congress 

Adriano Espaillat 

Member of Congress 

Jimmy Gomez 

Member of Congress 

Adam B. Schiff 

Member of Congress 

Ilhan Omar 

Member of Congress 

Jason Crow 

Member of Congress 

J. Luis Correa 

Member of Congress 

Donald M. Payne, Jr. 

Member of Congress 

Darren Soto 

Member of Congress 

Joaquin Castro 

Member of Congress 
Julia Brownley 

Member of Congress 

David J. Trone 

Member of Congress 

Tony Cárdenas 

Member of Congress 

Judy Chu 

Member of Congress 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 

Member of Congress 

Gregory W. Meeks 

Member of Congress 

Barbara Lee 

Member of Congress 

Melanie Stansbury 

Member of Congress 

Katie Porter 

Member of Congress 

Raúl M. Grijalva 

Member of Congress 
Juan Vargas 

Member of Congress 

Mark Pocan 

Member of Congress 

Frederica S. Wilson 

Member of Congress 

Donald S. Beyer Jr. 

Member of Congress 

Jan Schakowsky 

Member of Congress 

Sean Casten 

Member of Congress 

Chellie Pingree 

Member of Congress 

Greg Casar 

Member of Congress 

Zoe Lofgren 

Member of Congress 

Debbie Wasserman Schultz 

Member of Congress 
Brittany Pettersen 

Member of Congress 

Sylvia R. Garcia 

Member of Congress 

Lloyd Doggett 

Member of Congress 

Jill Tokuda 

Member of Congress 

Emanuel Cleaver, II 

Member of Congress 

Andy Kim 

Member of Congress 

Rashida Tlaib 

Member of Congress 

Haley M. Stevens 

Member of Congress 

Sheila Jackson Lee 

Member of Congress 

Betty McCollum 

Member of Congress 
Nydia M. Velázquez 

Member of Congress 

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick 

Member of Congress 

Cori Bush 

Member of Congress 

Ro Khanna 

Member of Congress 

Linda T. Sánchez 

Member of Congress 

Earl Blumenauer 

Member of Congress 

Robert J. Menendez 

Member of Congress 

Mike Levin 

Member of Congress 

C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger 

Member of Congress 

Mike Quigley 

Member of Congress 
Summer Lee 

Member of Congress 

Dwight Evans 

Member of Congress 

Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. 

Member of Congress 

Brendan F. Boyle 

Member of Congress 

Sara Jacobs 

Member of Congress 

Colin Z. Allred 

Member of Congress 

Maxwell Alejandro Frost 

Member of Congress 

Ayanna Pressley 

Member of Congress 

Jamie Raskin 

Member of Congress 

MARK TAKANO 

Member of Congress 
Norma J. Torres 

Member of Congress 

Marc A. Veasey 

Member of Congress 

Kathy Castor 

Member of Congress 

Doris Matsui 

Member of Congress 

Paul Tonko 

Member of Congress 

Chrissy Houlahan 

Member of Congress 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

Office of the Director (MS 2000) 

Camp Springs, MD 20588-0009 

March 11, 2024 

The Honorable Pramila Jayapal 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Representative Jayapal: 

Thank you for your November 16, 2023 letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I 

am responding on behalf of the Department. 

As you note in your letter, DHS has authority under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and 

Nationality Act (INA) to parole noncitizens into the United States, on a case-by-case basis, for urgent 

humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. 

The existing family reunification parole processes were established in recognition of the 

significant public benefit of reuniting families quickly in cases in which the beneficiaries are eligible for, 

but have not yet received, a family-based immigrant visa. The existing process also provides a lawful and 

more orderly alternative to irregular migration to the United States. USCIS is committed to facilitating 

more expeditious family reunification by reducing backlogs and processing times. In addition, the U.S. 

Department of State administers consular processing, which enables the spouse of a U.S. citizen residing 

outside the United States to be admitted into the United States as a lawful permanent resident. 

Parole in place may be requested by noncitizens present in the United States, without admission, 

who can demonstrate both eligibility for parole (the requisite showing of urgent humanitarian reasons or 

significant public benefit) and that they merit a favorable exercise of discretion. USCIS considers these 

requests on a case-by-case basis, and if USCIS favorably exercises its discretion, USCIS generally grants 

parole in place for a limited period of time. 

Thank you again for your letter and interest in this important issue. The cosigners of your letter 

will receive a separate, identical response. Should you require any additional assistance, please have your 

staff contact the USCIS Office of Legislative Affairs at (240) 721-3801. 

Respectfully, 

Ur M. Jaddou 

Director