Since Biden has taken over as President, he has spoken a lot about his future immigration plans, however so far there have not been many changes implemented. This is partly due to Democratic lawmakers wrestling with how to move forward with a series of immigration bills that would legalize undocumented immigrants, with some pushing for sweeping immigration revisions while others have been urging to proceed with caution. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, has mentioned trying to put a bill on the House floor by March 8 is “being discussed,” but he didn’t offer a timeline. If not, the lawmakers are hoping to address said immigration bills on the House floor before April 1, in which they can introduce legislation in the new session that’s already passed in the chamber without going through committee again. Rep. Linda Sánchez will lead Biden-Harris immigration legislation in the House when it finally gets there. It would be a huge step in the right direction if these bills were to be passed and implemented as they would grant legal status to thousands of undocumented farmworkers and address immigrants who came to the US illegally as children, as well as two other programs, Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure, that offer temporary relief.
Biden also has his proposed his U.S. Citizenship Act that would create an eight-year path to citizenship for millions of immigrants already in the country and provide a faster track for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. This bill was first proposed last month yet is still up for debate, however Biden has announced his willingness to pass other proposed immigration bill in the mean time. Throughout this process, it is likely that Biden will face many obstacles along the way because even though Democrats largely support legalizing millions of immigrants who are already in the country illegally, as Biden’s proposal would do, there is a risk in passing the bill in the House only to watch it go nowhere in the Senate. There will likely be many more updates to come throughout the next few months as Biden’s work on passing immigration bills is just getting started.
For any further questions in regards to immigration, please contact CIMA Law Group.
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