President Biden announced a new immigration program Tuesday designed to ease the path to citizenship for a half-million illegal immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens by letting them skip the line and adjust their status in the U.S. without going home.

Mr. Biden cast the plan as pro-family, drawing a sharp contrast with his opponent, former President Donald Trump, and the family separations that occurred on his watch.

The plan could cover 500,000 illegal immigrant spouses and another 50,000 of their children. Under normal rules, the spouses can apply to adjust their status by dint of their marriage, but they are supposed to return home and await processing, which in some cases can take years.

Mr. Biden is offering them “parole in place” or immediate tentative legal status, work permits to legally hold jobs and a three-year window to apply for permanent legal status.

“It is simple. It embraces the American principle that we should keep families together,” the president said at a White House ceremony where he announced the program.

Republicans blasted the move as legally suspect and a morally dubious bit of election-year politicking. They called the program an “amnesty” since it protects otherwise “inadmissible” migrants from deportation, and they warned it would entice yet another wave of illegal immigrants.

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“President Biden’s election-year, eleventh-hour ploy for mass amnesty is not surprising, but it is an important reminder for anyone who doubted — this administration was never serious about securing the border,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green.

The move did score with Mr. Biden’s target audience: Hispanic activists and other members of his liberal coalition who have been dismayed by the president’s recent embrace of Trump-style border policies.

“We anticipate that immigrants and Latino voters will express their gratitude at the ballot box in November,” said Gustavo Torres, head of CASA, a major immigration group in the mid-Atlantic.

The president’s plan applies to illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for at least 10 years as of Monday and who were married to a U.S. citizen as of Monday. Officials figure some 500,000 people are eligible.

It also covers an estimated 50,000 children of those immigrant spouses.

Administration officials say the program is essentially a bridge to faster status. The migrants would all qualify for adjustment of status, but many won’t take the step because it would mean returning home and separating themselves from family.

Now, they can remain.

Lawyers said they expect quick legal challenges, saying the program stretches the limits of Mr. Biden’s executive authority on immigration.

The announcement came as part of a ceremony to commemorate 12 years since the launch of the DACA program, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. That was another legally iffy program that is still facing court challenges but has protected more than 800,000 young adult illegal immigrants from deportation and given them a chance to hold legal jobs and put down roots.

President Obama announced DACA in June 2012, as he was facing sliding support among Hispanics. Community leaders say DACA helped firm up that support in his eventually successful reelection.

Mr. Biden is hoping for something similar with Tuesday’s announcement, which activists said is the largest relief program for illegal immigrants since DACA.

The rollout seemed a bit rushed, with officials unable to answer key questions such as the cost of the applications and the manpower U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would be able to dedicate to processing cases.

Mr. Biden is using “parole” powers to carry out his plan.

Parole has been the backbone of his effort to create a new immigration system outside of the one Congress has established. He has used it to welcome more than 2 million migrants who are otherwise unauthorized, including Afghans and Ukrainians, Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and a wide range of migrants showing up at the southern border without permission.

The new program relies on what’s known as “parole-in-place.” Previous presidents have used this method, but it is supposed to be done on a case-by-case basis.

Mr. Biden’s categorical approach will provide a tough test for judges.

Republicans said the fact that the illegal immigrant spouses could eventually earn citizenship — and become voters — is proof that Mr. Biden wants to convert unauthorized migrants into Democratic voters.

“Make no mistake: Joe Biden views every illegal alien as a future Democrat voter,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican.

Mr. Trump’s campaign tied Mr. Biden’s new program to an ongoing wave of high-profile crimes attributed to illegal immigrants who arrived on the current president’s watch.

“Biden’s mass amnesty plan will undoubtedly lead to a greater surge in migrant crime, cost taxpayers millions of dollars they cannot afford, overwhelm public services, and steal Social Security and Medicare benefits from American seniors to fund benefits for illegals — draining the programs Americans paid into their entire working lives,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump was engaging in fearmongering about immigrants.

“Now he’s proposing to rip spouses and children from their families and homes and communities and place them in detention camps,” Mr. Biden said. “He’s actually saying these things. It’s hard to believe it’s being said, but he’s saying these things out loud. It’s outrageous.”

In addition to the spouses, the Biden administration said Tuesday it is working on plans to allow DACA recipients and some other young migrants who have graduated from U.S. colleges to have a streamlined path to apply for work visas.

For the DACA recipients, that could be a quick way to gain firmer legal status.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.