The House on Thursday approved the first of two proposals that would legalize subsets of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission, while Democrats assess the chances of passing immigration legislation and sending it to President Biden’s desk. .
Together by nine Republicans, all House Democrats voted to approve the American Dream and Promise Act, which was passed by a vote from 228 to 197. The proposal would allow more than 2.3 million “Dreamers” or unauthorized immigrants to come to the US as minors, as well as beneficiaries of certain temporary humanitarian programs, to obtain permanent legal status and, eventually, US citizenship.
The House is expected to pass another bill later on Thursday, which will grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of rural workers living in the United States without authorization.
Both measures were recently reintroduced after being passed by the House in 2019 with some Republican support. Given that Biden’s broad plan to legalize most of the country’s undocumented population has been met with widespread rejection by Republicans, autonomous projects may represent Democrats’ best chance of getting immigration legislation in the equally divided Senate.
“It has always been a pleasure for me to praise our Dreamers. They make us very proud,” Mayor Nancy Pelosi said at an event with the Hispanic Caucus Congress on Capitol Hill, before voting. “For us, this is not just a day for passing legislation, but also a cause for celebration.”
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
If enacted as a law, the American Dream and Promise Act would make recipients of the Obama era Delayed Action for Children (DACA) program and other undocumented immigrants brought into the country before the age of 18 qualified to apply for a term. conditional permanent residence if several requirements are met.
Candidate candidates would be eligible to apply for permanent residency if they obtained a university degree or enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program for two years; if they served in the army for at least two years; or if they worked in the USA for a period of three years.
More than 300,000 immigrants living in the USA with Temporary Protection Status and Deferred Forced Departure, two provisional forms of humanitarian aid, would automatically be eligible to apply for permanent residency under the law if they meet eligibility rules, which include having lived in the USA for at least three years.
Unlike its 2019 version, the Dream Act approved by the House on Thursday would also allow children of temporary work visa holders in the United States, arrested in the work card process linked to the green card, to adjust their status.
Seven Republican members of Congress joined 230 Democrats to approve the 2019 version of the House Dream Act, which was led by California Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard.
Defenders of immigrants and many Democrats regard the approval of the Dream Act as an urgent priority due to the legal cloud that looms over the DACA program. Although Biden reversed former President Donald Trump’s efforts to end DACA, a Texas federal judge must decide on the legality of the program.
Meanwhile, the Agricultural Workforce Modernization Act would allow rural immigrant workers to apply for temporary and renewable immigration status if they worked at least 180 days in the United States over a 2-year period.
Eligible workers would be allowed to apply for green cards if they complete four or eight years of additional agricultural work, depending on whether they have done that work for more or less than 10 years.
The proposal, put forward by Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse, would also make several changes to the H-2A visa program for agricultural workers, including visa validity for three years.
In December 2019, the Agricultural Workforce Modernization Act passed the House by 260-165 votes, with more than 20 Republican lawmakers voting with Democrats to approve the plan.
Last month, Democratic congressmen revealed a comprehensive immigration review proposal based on a draft drawn up by Mr. Biden’s team. Along with the expansion of legal immigration, investment in Central America and the redirection of border controls, the project would create a major two-tier legalization program for a large group of immigrants living in the United States without authorization.
Dreamers, TPS holders and rural workers would automatically be eligible for green cards, while other undocumented immigrants could apply for temporary legal status. The latter group could apply for green cards after five years with provisional status.
Although it has received praise from progressives, the plan defended by Biden has yet to garner any public Republican support in Congress. Earlier this week, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not yet have enough votes in the House to guarantee approval of the bill there.
“I think that indicates where the Senate is, too,” Durbin told reporters, saying he would start negotiating with Republican senators to see if they would support autonomous projects for Dreamers, TPS holders and rural workers.