WASHINGTON – President Biden has repeatedly said he wants to create a path to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
But even as he prepares to push hard for the broadest possible overhaul of the country’s immigration laws, he and his assistants have begun to open up to more targeted approaches that can conquer citizenship for smaller, discreet groups of undocumented immigrants. On Tuesday in a CNN City Hall, he said such attempts would be “in the meantime” acceptable.
In a private telephone conversation with activists on Wednesday, the best immigration assistants of Mr. Biden said they support a ‘multiple train’ strategy, which could target citizenship for ‘dreamers’, the young immigrants who entered the country illegally as children; farm workers who toiled in American fields for years; and others.
Smaller bills could move forward as the president tries to build support for the broader legislation, which will be enacted Thursday after Thursday.
If he prefers to move step by step, it seems unlikely that Mr. Biden will anger the most powerful pro-immigration groups, embracing a more pragmatic strategy following spectacular defeats under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
For more than two decades, activists have been trying to bring about a broad overhaul of the country’s immigration laws that would create a path to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants, a faster path for dreamers, expanded visa access for highly skilled workers, and ‘ a new program for seasonal agricultural workers.
They bet that Mr. Biden will struggle even more than his predecessors did to win support from a Republican Party that became more anti-immigrant during the Trump administration.
While the activists are prepared to kill Mr. Asked to try a dual deal this year, they warned that they would not wait forever.
“We want 11 million people to be legalized. This is our North Star, ”said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice and a veteran of immigration wars in the country’s capital for more than 30 years. “But we can not come home empty-handed. We are not going to follow an all or nothing approach. We need to achieve a breakthrough. ”
For those like Mr. Sharry, this is a major shift, and it could usher in heated debates over whether Democrats should use parliamentary tactics in the Senate to implement individual immigration measures without any Republican support.
The activists are mobilizing on behalf of separate bills that will legalize Dreamers; farm workers; immigrants granted temporary status after fleeing war and natural disasters; and undocumented “essential workers” who fought on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
In public, the White House urges Congress to pass the broad overhaul of immigration by the president. Jen Psaki, the press secretary of the White House, said this week that Mr. Biden strives for comprehensive change because ‘everyone needs to be addressed – that’s why he proposed it together.’
And the main supporters of the legislation of Mr. Biden in Congress – Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Representative Linda T. Sánchez of California – say it would be a mistake to abandon the broader effort before it even begins. Mr. Menendez and me. Sánchez is expected to release details of the president’s legislation on Thursday morning after it was introduced in the House.
A Democratic assistant familiar with the legislation said if immigration activists ask for only half a loaf of bread, they should not be surprised if they end up going home with just one slice of bread.
“We have an economic and moral need to carry out major, daring and inclusive immigration reform – a reform that leaves no one behind,” he said. Menendez said Wednesday night. He criticized advocates for not being willing to fight for legislation that would eventually legalize the entire country’s undocumented population.
“We must not start with concessions outside the gate. “We are not going to start with two million people without papers instead of 11 million,” he said. “We will never win an argument that we do not have the courage to make. We must speak out for bold, inclusive and lasting immigration reform. ”
How to successfully revamp the country’s immigration system has been eluded by policymakers in Washington for decades. The last time a major immigration bill was signed was in 1990, when President George Bush expanded legal immigration to the United States, before an explosion of illegal crossings at the southwestern border in the ensuing 20 years.
The increase in illegal border crossings has called for more enforcement of the Conservatives, even as backlogs in legal immigration have caused a growing crisis for businesses looking for workers and families hiding in the United States for violence and disasters at home.
Those in favor of immigration have been advocating for nearly three decades for a single, comprehensive bill with elements that can unite Democrats and Republicans, unions and big business, security-oriented conservatives and liberal immigration supporters.
Such bills – introduced in 2001, 2006, 2007 and 2013 – have led to a compromise: improving border security and immigration law enforcement in exchange for a path to citizenship for undocumented people. They also included increases in the number of temporary workers allowed in the United States; more resources for processing asylum applications; new opportunities for highly skilled workers from other countries; single restrictions on immigration based on family ties; and protection for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
But none of these attempts succeed. Despite the support of President George W. Bush, the Senate and House did not reach a compromise in 2006 and the legislation was defeated in the Senate in 2007. In 2013, Mr. Obama secured the two-day Senate through an immigration overhaul, 68 to 32, only to see it ignored by the Republican-controlled House. Over the past four years, some of the conservative side of the equation – border security – has been secured by Donald J. Trump in the form of strict restrictions on asylum seekers and partial construction of Mr. Trump’s border wall.
Mr. Biden won the presidency in part by promising to bring back two parties, saying his long-standing relationship in the Senate would help him bridge the divisions that have deepened in recent years. Mrs. Psaki said the president had set out ‘the principles of how we think the proposal should look’ in the hope of addressing the root causes of immigration problems.
However, immigration lawyers say the history of failure is changing the strategy this year.
“You’re talking about a struggle we’ve had for more than three decades at this point,” said Lorella Praeli, president of Community Change Action. ‘I’m not interested in a dance. I am committed to seeing it through and making concrete changes. ”
Me. Praeli and other proponents said Mr. Biden, mr. Menendez and me. Sánchez praised for their broader bill. But they also called on the president to promise that he would also use a budgetary instrument, known as reconciliation, to implement smaller components of the legislation, although he continued the larger effort.
Under Senate rules, legislation that significantly affects the country’s budget can only be passed by a majority vote, to avoid filibuster rules that require the support of 60 senators. With the current 50-50 Senate, it will give Democrats the ability to pass reconciliation bills without Republican support, and with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast the tie-breaking vote – if they can stay united.
Immigration advocates believe that more targeted efforts to legalize some undocumented immigrants will succeed, according to the sometimes astonishing rules of reconciliation, which should impede pure policies of bills that are supposed to deal with taxes and government spending. Since newly legalized residents would influence tax revenues and government benefits, the groups say immigration legislation can be adjusted as budgetary measures.
Reconciliation is already being used to build muscle by Mr. Biden’s $ 1.9 billion pandemic relief package, but another budget measure is expected to address infrastructure and climate change funding.
“We need to be included in the package,” he said. Sharry of America’s Voice said.
The immigration efforts of mr. Biden has even more headwinds than that of Obama and George W. Bush.
Many Republican senators who had immigrant supporters – including John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona; Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee; Orrin Hatch of Utah; Dean Heller of Nevada; and others – left the Senate. Others, such as Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who helped negotiate previous immigration packages, have moved right in the Trump years.
Kerri Talbot, the deputy director of the Immigration Hub, said it was clear to many of the groups that Republicans could not be counted on to support a broad overhaul of immigration without the kind of extreme measures Trump took during his presidency. did not insist. She said implementing smaller, popular measures such as legalizing dreamers would put Republicans on the point.
“We are always open to a broader discussion, but if we do not want to do it, we want to continue with pieces that can succeed,” she said. “We want two parties. I would love to have that conversation again. But it really depends on the Republicans. ”
Me. Praeli said she and others who had been fighting over immigration for years believed it was time to put ‘the‘ W’s ’on the board by giving as many people as they could citizenship.
“We’re in a different moment,” she said. Praeli, who became a citizen in 2015, said after being undocumented for years after her arrival in the United States as a small child. “We can see that Trump is no longer here, but that Trumpism has not disappeared.”