President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced sweeping new protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have been living in the US illegally for years but are married to US citizens.

Under the new policy, some 500,000 undocumented spouses will be shielded from deportation and given a pathway to citizenship and the ability to work legally in the US. It is one of the most expansive presidential actions to protect immigrants in more than a decade.

Biden will celebrate the programme during a White House ceremony marking the 12-year anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which protects people who came to the US as children from deportation.

The decision comes as Biden tries to strike a balance on one of the most dominant political issues in 2024. Biden just two weeks ago announced a crackdown that suspended longtime guarantees that give anyone who steps onto US soil the right to seek asylum here.

Biden is also expected to detail separate actions that will make it easier for undocumented young people, many of them known as Dreamers, to access work visas. White House officials began privately reassuring progressives that the President would also help undocumented immigrants who had been in the nation for years.