A border officer checks a passport at the Tijuana-US border crossing.
Omar Martinez | photo alliance | Getty Images
Democrats in Congress will file a sweeping immigration bill on Thursday, backed by President Joe Biden.
During a phone call with reporters Wednesday evening, Biden officials gave a sneak peek at the legislation. According to officials, the proposed bill would, among other provisions,:
- Create an 8-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US on January 1
- Provide an accelerated path to citizenship for agricultural workers and undocumented youth who have arrived in the US as children with temporary protected status under DACA
- Replace the word “alien” with “non-citizen” in the law
- Increase the limits by country for family and work-related legal immigration rates
- Revoke the penalty that prohibits undocumented immigrants leaving the country from returning to the US for three to ten years.
- Expansion of transnational anti-drug task forces in Central America
- Increase funding for technology on the southern border
The path to citizenship would give undocumented immigrants temporary status for five years, after which they could apply for a green card. Three years later they can apply for citizenship.
DACA-protected undocumented immigrants and agricultural workers who can provide job history can skip five years of provisional status and “go straight to a green card,” a senior official said on the call.
Main sponsors Sen. Bob Menendez, DN.J., and Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., Will publish the full text of the US Citizenship Act of 2021 on Thursday.
The bill reflects the priorities set out in an executive order by the president on his first day of office. Biden also signed an executive action ending the state of emergency on the southern border and halting the border wall construction projects.
While Democrats have a narrow majority in both houses of Congress, the legislation would require a minimum of 10 Republican votes to defeat a senatorial filibuster.
Biden and Congress are turning their attention to infrastructure as the Covid emergency bill is nearing completion, so it’s unclear how much the government and Democrats will prioritize passing on immigration reforms.
When asked whether the president would support the abolition of the Senate filibuster or use a budget reconciliation process requiring only a simple majority, officials of the Biden administration would not answer directly.
“It’s just too early to speculate about it now,” said a White House official. “We first want to delay our sponsors of this bill on what’s possible and look at the leadership on the hill on how they want to boost immigration.”
Congress has not passed a major comprehensive reform law in decades. In 2013, a bipartisan bill was passed in the Democrat-led Senate, but it was never considered in the Republican-controlled House.
At the time, conservative House Republicans opposed a broad path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and were against comprehensive legislation and advocated a fragmented approach that prioritized border security. Former Republican Chairman John Boehner did not put the bill to the vote.