Topline
The Biden administration and congressional Democrats formally introduced the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 Thursday, a sweeping bill that lays out Democrats’ priorities for immigration reform after taking control of Capitol Hill and the White House. Here are the biggest proposals laid out in the wide-ranging legislation:
President Joe Biden signs executive orders on immigration at the White House on Feb. 2, 2021.
Key Facts
The bill establishes an eight-year path to citizenship that applies to undocumented immigrants in the country as of Jan. 1—which would let them first get a green card after five years—and an expedited three-year citizenship route for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and some other groups, like farm workers.
The term “alien” would be replaced with “noncitizen” in federal law, after the Department of Homeland Security directed immigration officials to replace the terminology in other communications earlier this week.
It would increase caps on several categories of legal immigration, including per-country limits and limits on employment-based visas, and introduce reforms to family-based immigration and asylum claims that could reduce backlogs.
More resources would be allocated to Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to address the “root causes” of those countries’ high migration rates to the U.S.
The bill would also reform immigration courts, including increasing the number of judges and expanding their training and giving them more discretion to grant relief to noncitizens.
The bill proposes reforms for law enforcement at the border, including more oversight over misconduct and protocols around the use of excessive force, and would develop guidelines and greater standards of care for those in immigration detention facilities.
Crucial Quote
“We have an historic opportunity to finally enact bold immigration reform that leaves no one behind, addresses root causes of migration, and safeguards our country’s national security,” Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who introduced the bill in the Senate, said in a statement Thursday. “We have a moral and economic imperative to get this done once and for all.”
What To Watch For
Given its major proposals, the bill likely has little chance of garnering enough Republican votes to get the 60 Senate votes needed for it to pass in its current form. “There’s no pathway to 60,” a White House source told Politico Thursday about the legislation. Some Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham have signaled they may be open to passing smaller immigration bills that have more targeted measures, like a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, and the Biden administration has acknowledged the legislation will likely change as a result of negotiations with the GOP. “We certainly understand that the sausage that comes out of the machine on the other side will look different than the sausage that’s introduced today,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing Thursday, saying President Joe Biden would work with lawmakers of both parties “to determine what the path forward looks like.”
Chief Critic
Biden’s immigration plan has already gotten significant blowback from conservative groups and those who favor reducing immigration. “In the midst of a devastating pandemic, a wrenching economic slowdown, and political instability, the White House signaled that its top priority is amnesty for illegal aliens,” the Center for Immigration Studies wrote about Biden’s proposal when it was introduced in January.
Key Background
Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) introduced the immigration bill Thursday after Biden previously sent his proposed legislation to Congress on the first day of his presidency. Biden has made immigration a major priority during the first weeks of his presidency, as his administration tries to reverse what Psaki described Thursday as the “chaos, cruelty and confusion” of the Trump administration’s policies. Biden has also taken such measures as repealing the Trump-era travel ban on predominantly-Muslim countries, reversing a “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers, announcing plans to increase the cap on refugee admissions and revoking an emergency declaration that funded the border wall, among other measures.
Further Reading
Biden's immigration bill lands on the Hill facing bleak odds (Politico)
Democrats to introduce immigration bill with 8-year pathway to citizenship (CNBC)
‘Aliens’ No More: Biden Administration Directs Immigration Officials To Use ‘Inclusive Language’ (Forbes)
Economists Push Biden On Path To Citizenship For Undocumented Immigrants (Forbes)
Biden To Admit 25,000 Asylum-Seekers Forced To Stay In Mexico Under Trump-Era Policy (Forbes)
