Homeland Security’s citizenship agency has created a backdoor pathway to citizenship that’s open to some of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who came to the U.S. illegally but who are now here under what’s known as Temporary Protected Status.
A new policy issued earlier this month allows TPS holders to apply for pre-approval to travel outside the U.S., and when they return they will be deemed to have been “inspected” at the border. That clears a key hurdle for those who came illegally the last time, effectively scrubbing that illegal entry from their record.
Previously they would have returned under the same status they left.