President Biden’s immigration proposal would make illegal immigrant rural workers immediately qualified for the green card – one of several provisions to grant legal status to millions in a bill facing significant Republican opposition.
The bill includes an 8-year path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants in the country, which involves a five-year path to a green card and then a three-year path to citizenship.
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In a news release released last week, the Biden administration announced that farmers, along with beneficiaries of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), would be immediately eligible for green cards. They would then be eligible for citizenship three years later.
A draft summary of legislation obtained by Fox News says farm workers would be able to adjust their situation after background checks and payment of applicable fees if they worked 400 days or more over a five-year period. It would include seasonal or temporary work.
It is a movement that has been warmly welcomed by working groups and immigrant activists.
“According to the Biden bill, agricultural workers with a work history would immediately obtain legal status, along with beneficiaries of the Dreamer and Temporary Protection Status,” Teresa Romero, president of United Agricultural Workers, said in a statement. “This bill is fundamentally different than any other president has ever done in emancipating farm workers so that they can escape widespread fear and behave like free women and men.”
“Not only is its content remarkable, but never before has a US president presented his own comprehensive immigration reform measure on the first day of his term,” she said. “Now we must work to make this vision a reality.”
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The bill, which would also allow spouses and children to obtain green cards, also includes labor protections and other measures to benefit rural workers.
But it seems doubtful that the bill will pass Congress. While there is a solid path in the House, where Democrats control the House, in the Senate it would need the support of 10 Republicans – and so far it seems unlikely to be possible.
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Who was part of the 2013 “Gang of Eight”, which negotiated an immigration agreement that was paralyzed in the Chamber, said the project was not started.
“The United States must always receive immigrants who want to become Americans. But we need laws that decide who and how many people can come here, and those laws must be followed and applied,” said Rubio in a statement.
“There are many issues that I think we can work on in cooperation with President-elect Biden, but a general amnesty for people who are here illegally is not going to be one of them,” he said.
Senate Republican Party leader Mitch McConnell said last week that the Biden government “drafted a huge general amnesty proposal that would destroy US law enforcement while creating huge new incentives for people to run here. illegally at the same time “.
Senator Bob Menendez, DN.J., who is leading the pressure to pass it in the upper house, said in a call last week that it would be a difficult task to pass it in Congress.
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“As someone who has been in these battles for almost two decades, I have no illusions. I know from my time in the Gang of Eight that passing the Senate immigration reform is a Herculean task in particular, ”he said.
Menendez said those in the business community need to “give everything they have”, while saying to advocacy and work groups, “We have a lot of work for us.”