House to support immigration bills amid influx of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border

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The House will vote on HR 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021, sponsored by Democratic Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard of California. It would provide a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants known as “dreamers” as well as for beneficiaries of temporary protection status and beneficiaries of delayed forced departure. The legislation is expected to make up to 4.4 million people eligible for permanent residence, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

The House is also expected to vote on HR 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, bipartisan legislation from Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren of California and Republican Dan Newhouse of Washington. The bill would allow agricultural workers, as well as their spouses and children, to acquire legal status by continuing to work in the agricultural sector, and would make changes to the H-2A guest farm worker program.

Both of these bills have already passed the House in previous years, but are being passed again, with Democrats holding a slim majority in the House and Senate. They are both expected to make it through the House, but they hit a wall in the Senate.

The chances that these bills will receive enough Republican support to reach 60 votes in the Senate are very low, which renews the debate among Democrats on ending the filibuster. This would allow the passage of legislation with a lower voting threshold, but it also seems unlikely to happen.
Democrats face increasingly scrutiny of their handling of immigration amid a recent surge in border crossings that Republicans say is a serious crisis.
Biden tells migrants not to come to US: 'Don't leave your city'

House Republicans have slammed the Biden administration over the influx of migrants crossing the border in recent weeks, including the sharp increase in the number of unaccompanied minors making the trip to the United States.

Many of those migrants crossing the border said they believed the Biden administration would be more welcoming than the Trump administration, which had taken a tougher stance.

“It’s more than a crisis. It’s a human heartbreak,” GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy said during a press briefing on a trip to the border this week. “Sadly, it didn’t have to happen. This crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration. There is no other way to claim it than a Biden border crisis. . “

Pressure to pass these two bills will give House Democrats a chance to say they are working to push immigration reforms forward, but questions remain about the fate of broader efforts to overhaul the system. immigration from the country.

And while some progressive Democrats would have liked to see comprehensive immigration reform legislation rather than these two piecemeal bills, other Democrats threw cold water on the idea, stressing how it it would be difficult to adopt a broader immigration program.

Senate Judicial Chairman Dick Durbin told CNN earlier this week he didn’t think there was enough support in this Congress to pass a separate immigration bill whole with a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, a key pillar of Biden’s immigration plan.

“I don’t see a way to do it,” said the Illinois Democrat. “I want it. I think we’re a lot more likely to deal with low-key elements.”

Weighing in on the House’s effort to move immigration bills forward, Durbin said: “I think President Pelosi has discovered that she has no support for the comprehensive bill at the Room, ”Durbin said. “And that also indicates where he is in the Senate.”

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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