TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Biden administration is offering Hongkongers in the U.S. a "temporary safe haven" as China continues to flout its legally binding obligations in Hong Kong and doubles down on its campaign to punish pro-democratic voices in the city.

President Joe Biden on Thursday (Aug. 5) invoked his constitutional authority to grant Hong Kong residents currently in the U.S. Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for up to 18 months.

In a memorandum issued by the White House that day, Biden pointed out that under the national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June of last year, the Hong Kong police are continuing to wage "a campaign of politically motivated arrests," with at least 100 opposition politicians, activists, and protesters arrested under the security law since it was introduced in June of last year and more than 10,000 people have detained in relation to the pro-democracy protests that wracked the city in 2019.

To support Hong Kongers in the U.S. who face diminishing freedoms back home, Biden announced he was ordering the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to "defer for 18 months the removal of any Hong Kong resident who is present in the United States on the date of this memorandum."

Exceptions include those who have not continuously lived in the country as of Thursday; those who return to Hong Kong or elsewhere in China after that date of their own volition; those who are subject to extradition, inadmissible, or deportable under relevant sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act; and individuals who pose a "serious adverse foreign policy consequences" or have been convicted of a felony or two misdemeanors on American soil.

Asked by Taiwan News how many people would be affected by the memorandum, the DHS did not give a specific number but said, "At this time, we are able to estimate that this will impact thousands."

During a press briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the move was a direct response to China's attacks on the autonomy and freedoms of the former British territory and that the Biden administration is moving forward with the hope it can change Beijing's behavior. "Obviously this step is one to make sure we are practicing what we preach in terms of human rights values and ensuring that people who are in this country don't face the ongoing repression that we are seeing in Hong Kong," she added.

Psaki declined to discuss how the Hong Kong residents' status would be affected beyond the current 18-month end date.