September 6, 2021
A provision in the $ 3.5 trillion reconciliation package would direct Congress to find a route to citizenship for millions of undocumented people.
If passed, the House provision would provide a route to citizenship for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, often referred to as dreamers; Farm laborer worker; those who have temporary protection status, which means that they cannot return to their country; and indispensable workers. The Senate version also supports a path to citizenship for undocumented people, but does not specify which groups would qualify.
There are more than 11 million undocumented people in the United States, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank that deals with migration.
If passed, the provision could affect Georgia and dozen other high-immigrant states, including California, Florida, Texas and Virginia, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
“Aside from the fact that this is the moral thing, it will be a boon to our economy to give dreamers, recipients of temporary protection status (TPS), farm workers and key workers a path to legal permanent residence status (LPR),” said the household resolution 2022 of the House of Representatives, which gives instructions to all committees on reconciliation.
The Senate package provides the Senate Judicial Committee with 107 billion. Legislators have a soft deadline of September 15.
House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said during a press conference that immigration reform would be included in the reconciliation package.
“I believe that immigration should go into reconciliation, part of it in reconciliation,” Pelosi said.
Since the presidential election, immigration advocates have been pushing for DACA not only to be enshrined in law, but also to be extended to family members of the recipients, and for a broader reform of immigration policy.
Georgia is home to nearly 20,000 DACA recipients, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and the 2016 census.
But members of the House of Representatives Hispanic Caucus protested policies that would undermine immigration reform, such as restricting citizenship only to DACA recipients and excluding TPS holders, farm laborers, and key workers.
“As the Senate goes through the budget reconciliation process, we urge our colleagues to oppose provisions that would undermine immigration reform efforts,” Caucus Chairman Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Cali.) Said in one joint statement. “The inclusion of an anti-immigrant amendment could jeopardize the prospect of the package in the House of Representatives.”
Some Republicans, such as Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, have advocated a separate provision that only allows DACA recipients to obtain citizenship. There are approximately 700,000 recipients that are protected under DACA.
Vice Chairs of the Hispanic Caucus Immigration Executive Orders and Budget Reconciliation Sub-Task Force Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) and Adriano Espaillat (DN.Y.) also joined Ruiz’s statement, arguing that immigration reform would benefit the economy .
“The CHC remains a strong advocate of immigrant communities across our country and will continue to work to ensure that immigration is part of the budget reconciliation process that benefits our economy and our recovery,” they said.
A report by the Center for American Progress found that the country’s gross domestic product would rise by $ 1.7 trillion over the next 10 years and create nearly half a million new people if Congress added the nearly 11 million undocumented people US would pave the way for citizenship jobs.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Vice chairman of the House Democratic Committee, said he had a meeting with the President at the White House along with Illinois Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and Senator Bob Menendez (DN. J.) “To reaffirm our support for reconciliation, including the immigration proposals.”
Many immigrant advocacy groups feel that immigration reform has fallen by the wayside with the Biden government, so these groups are either hoping for change through the reconciliation process or pushing lawmakers to back their cause.
“I know DACA is not enough and will not stop fighting until everyone in my family and community is protected,” Yazmin Valdez, a DACA recipient and member of United We Dream Action, an immigration advocate, said in a statement .
Valdez, who campaigned for citizens to support undocumented people in Arizona, said Arizona Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly “need to be reminded that it was black, brown, and directly affected communities that mobilized millions.” to “Blue down Arizona and give them seats in the office.”
“Now is the time they used their critical role in the Senate to deliver what their constituents and the overwhelming majority of Americans overwhelmingly support, citizenship for millions,” she said.
Tess Wilkes, an oversight attorney with the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, a group in New Mexico that provides legal and legal services to immigrants, said she hoped for bipartisan immigration reform legislation, “but we haven’t seen that yet.”
“If it has to be like that, then we support it,” said Wilkes of the reconciliation.
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