Are Biden's immigration moves at odds? Homeland Security chief says they can coexist

President Biden has drawn anger and praise from immigration advocates in recent days.

This week, Biden used his executive power to protect undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation and opened an easier path to legal status for them.

Yet, some advocates who cheered the latest move are currently suing the White House because of actions it took two weeks ago to severely restrict asylum access at the border for people who have traveled thousands of miles to plead their cases.

Biden’s chief immigration official, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, told NPR’s Leila Fadel that these two very different approaches can work together.

Mayorkas said this week's move “is about family unity and to provide [families] the stability that their contribution to this country so richly deserve," and added that it and the asylum restrictions recently put into effect, "can coexist and are not in tension with one another.”

The plan announced this week would grant work permits and “parole in place” to eligible undocumented people who are married to U.S. citizens and who have lived in the country for at least 10 years. It would also allow them a three-year window to apply for legal permanent status through their existing marriages. The plan also extends paths of legal status to undocumented minors and stepchildren of U.S. citizens.

“I think it's very important to understand that this is the president's approach from day one,” Mayorkas said. “The fact that we can take measures to secure our border, which is a national imperative, one that every country follows. And at the same time, take actions domestically here in the United States to make our system more fair and more just for those who have resided here for many years