After weeks of deliberations, Democratic congressmen and the White House are due to present an immigration reform bill on Thursday that will overhaul US immigration laws and allow millions of immigrants living in the country to obtain legal status, they said. two people familiar with the subject. CBS News.
According to a 66-page summary of legislation obtained by CBS News, the proposal would create a two-tier legalization program that would automatically make rural workers, holders of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) and undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children eligible for green cards. After three years, they can apply to become American citizens.
All other eligible unauthorized immigrants could apply for temporary relief from deportation and work permits when placed on an eight-year path to obtaining US citizenship. All petitioners would have to undergo background checks and national security checks, as well as submit taxes and pay application fees.
According to the preliminary text shared with the Congressional staff, the plan would not benefit newcomers, as all potential candidates would need to prove they were in the U.S. before January 1, 2021. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS) would be allowed to issue humanitarian exemptions from this requirement to immigrants deported during the Trump administration, provided they prove that they lived in the United States for at least three years before their deportation.
California Congresswoman Linda Sánchez and New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, two Democrats with previous experience in drafting immigration policies, will present the proposal in the House and Senate, respectively.
The invoice, based on parameters revealed by the Biden government last month, it should be defended by the White House as one of President Biden’s domestic policy priorities during his first year in office. However, the comprehensive proposal will need to garner unanimous Democratic support and at least 10 Republican votes in the Senate under current Senate rules – a limit that previously condemned other immigration reform plans.
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In addition to the legalization provisions, the bill would eliminate Clinton-era sanctions that prevent undocumented immigrants from leaving the United States for three or 10 years, as well as restricting the president’s power to issue categorical bans to groups of immigrants. It would also replace all references to “foreigner” in immigration laws with the term “non-citizen”.
Another centerpiece of the bill is an expansion of legal immigration. The plan would increase current country limits for family and job-based immigrant visas and reassign unused visas. This would make spouses and children of green cardholders “immediate family members”, exempting them from country limits.
The project would increase the annual allocation of employment-based visas from 140,000 to 170,000, as well as the annual ceiling for diversity visas from 55,000 to 80,000. Another 10,000 visas would be reserved for a pilot program for immigrants that will contribute to the economic development of local communities.
The plan would give the Biden government $ 1 billion a year between 2022 and 2025 to fund efforts to reduce the violence, poverty, crime and corruption that fuel migration from Central America to the United States. It would also require the establishment of processing centers in the region where Central Americans, including children at risk, could apply for parole or refugee status to legally come to the United States.
Other provisions call on DHS to implement “smart” border security measures and allocate funds to expand the infrastructure that ports of entry have to process asylum seekers and intercept illicit drugs. The department would be required to issue new guidelines on the care and processing of migrant children.
The plan would also allocate 30,000 visas to victims of serious crimes that assist with law enforcement; eliminate the current 1-year period that asylum seekers must apply for asylum in the United States; and instruct DHS to expand detention alternatives for migrants in deportation procedures, especially families with children.