President Joe Biden will announce today a new executive action aimed at protecting thousands of immigrants married to US citizens from deportation.

Considered one of the largest immigration relief programmes in the country, the measure will be unveiled during an event marking the anniversary of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) or «dreamers».

With this provision, Biden’s government will benefit irregular migrants with at least 10 years in the United States.

According to local media, at least 1.1 million people would be granted a path to permanent residency and US citizenship.

Biden recently announced an executive order restricting asylum applications at official points of entry along the southern border, which has already been challenged in court.

Luis Miranda, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told the Spanish-language daily La Opinión that since the implementation of Biden’s order earlier this month, deportations of undocumented immigrants at the border have doubled, although he did not provide a specific figure.

«What I can tell you is that we have been able to more than double the number of people who are in expedited deportation proceedings,» the official told the journalist, commenting that «any figures at this point are preliminary».

The newspaper cited the latest available data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which showed that 179,000 migrant encounters were recorded at the southern border in April, or nearly six thousand per day.