The House on Thursday approved the first of two proposals that would legalize the subgroups of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States without legal permission, as Democrats set the chance to approve immigration legislation and go to President Biden’s desk send.
Joined by nine Republicans, all House Democrats voted to approve the U.S. Dream and Promise Act, which was approved by a vote of 228 to 197. The proposal would allow more than 2.3 million “dreamers,” or unauthorized immigrants, who came to the U.S. as minors. , as well as beneficiaries of certain temporary humanitarian programs, to obtain permanent legal status and eventually U.S. citizenship.
The House is expected to pass another bill later Thursday that would give hundreds of thousands of farm workers living in the United States without permission legal status.
The two measures were recently reintroduced after passing the House in 2019 with some Republican support. Since Mr. Biden’s comprehensive plan to legalize the majority of the country’s undocumented population, with a wide rejection by the Republic, could allow the stand-alone bills to represent the Democrats’ best chance at immigration legislation by the evenly divided Senate.
“It has always been a pleasure for me to sing the praises of our dreamers. They make us so proud,” Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, said during an event with the Spanish caucus of Congress in the Capitol before the votes said. “For us, it is a day of not only the adoption of legislation, but also a reason for celebration.”
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
If the U.S. Dream and Promise Act is signed, it will be eligible for recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program and other undocumented immigrants brought to the country 18 years ago make permanent residence for a period of ten years of conditional applications if they meet various requirements.
Future applicants may be eligible for permanent residence if they have obtained a university degree or enrolled in a bachelor’s program for two years; if they have served in the military for at least two years; or if they have worked in the US for three years.
More than 300,000 immigrants living in the U.S. with a temporary protected status and a deferred forced departure, two provisional forms of humanitarian relief, can automatically apply for permanent residency under the bill if they comply with the admission rules, which include that they lived in the USA. for at least three years.
Unlike the 2019 version, the Dream Act passed by the House on Thursday will also allow children of temporary U.S. work visa holders trapped in the backward green card process to adjust their status.
Seven Republican lawmakers have joined 230 Democrats to pass the 2019 version of the House Dream Act, led by California Congressman Lucille Roybal-Allard.
Immigrant advocates and many Democrats view the adoption of the Dream Act as an urgent priority because of the legal cloud hanging over the DACA program. While Mr. Biden has reversed former President Donald Trump’s efforts to end DACA, a Texas federal judge is expected to rule on the legality of the program.
Meanwhile, the Farm Workers Modernization Act would allow immigrant farm workers to apply for temporary and renewable immigration status if they had worked in the U.S. for at least 180 days for a period of two years.
Eligible workers may apply for green cards if they have completed four or eight years of additional agricultural work, depending on whether they have performed such work for more than or less than ten years.
The proposal, introduced by Democratic Congressman Zoe Lofgren and Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse, would also make several changes to the H-2A agricultural program visa program, including making visas valid for three years.
In December 2019, the Farm Workers Modernization Act passed the House through a 260-165 vote, with more than 20 Republican lawmakers voting with Democrats to approve the plan.
Last month, the Congress Democrats passed a broad overhaul of immigration proposal based on an exposition made by mr. Biden’s team has been set up. Along with expanding legal immigration, investing in Central America and re-controlling border controls, the bill would create a massive two-tier legalization program for a broad group of immigrants living in the U.S. without permission.
Dreamers, TPS holders and farm workers would automatically be eligible for green cards, while other undocumented immigrants could apply for temporary legal status. The latter group can apply for green cards after five years with the interim status.
Although it deserves praise from progressives, the plan that Mr. Biden has not yet received any public support in Congress. Earlier this week, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, proposed that Speaker Nancy Pelosi not yet have enough votes in the House to pass the bill there.
“I think it also indicates where it is in the Senate,” Durbin told reporters, adding that he would begin negotiations with Republican senators to see if they would support the stand-alone bills for Dreamers, TPS holders and farm workers. .