James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
1:52 P.M. EDT
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Good afternoon, everyone.
Q Good afternoon.
Q Hello.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hello. Weijia, hello.
Okay, I have a couple things at the top, and then we'll get going.
So, as you all know, this afternoon, President Biden and the First Lady will host an event to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Def- — Deferred — of the Deferred Action for Child- — Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA.
Over the last 12 years, DACA has provided more than 800,000 DREAMers with the ability to work lawfully, pursue an education, open businesses, and contribute their enormous talents to make our communities better and stronger.
While Congress has failed to act on the reforms President Biden pres- — presented on the first day of his presidency, the Biden-Harris administration vigorously defended DACA in court and extended Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA recipients.
Now, later today, not to — in a couple of — not to — less than an hour — today, President Biden will announce that the Department of Homeland Security will take action designed to help U.S. citizens with noncitizens spouses keep their families together.
This new process will help certain noncitizen spouses and children apply for lawful permanent residency — a status they are already eligible for — without having to leave the country.
Additionally, President Biden will announce that the administration will facilitate the employment visa process for those who have graduated from college and have a high-skilled job offer, including DACA recipients and other DREAMers.
Think about the stability this will bring to so many American families across the country. These measures will help keep American families together and allow more young people to contribute to our economy and our country.
The Biden-Harris administration is committed to taking action, within its authorities, to secure our border and ensure that our immigration system is more fair and more just.
As you all remember, two weeks ago, President Biden announced additional actions to secure our southern border after Congressional Republicans twice — twice — voted against the toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades.
And while we are still in the early phase of implementation, encounters in between ports of entry are down and repat- — repatriations are up.
However, we know that only Congress can deliver the additional personnel, resources, and policy changes needed to secure our border. And only Congress can deliver the comprehensive reform of our immigration and asylum laws that is needed to secure our border and make our immigration system work.
We'll continue to call on lawmakers to do just that.
Next, I also wanted to quickly address the extreme heat wave that we are seeing across the country.
We know that extreme heat can be dangerous, which is — which is especially true for older adults and people with under- — under- — underlying health conditions.
We encourage everyone experiencing extreme temperatures this week to check in on their neighbors, drink plenty of water, and look for cooling centers if needed.
