Joe Biden started the process that paves the way for the naturalization of 11 million undocumented immigrants

On Thursday, the US government gave yet another sign of its immigrant crusade. Joe Biden’s government announced a broad bill on immigration which opens the doors of a eight years of travel for millions of immigrants, who are already in this country, to obtain citizenship.

It also provides a more agile process for those who undocumented migrants brought to the United States when they were only children.

However, this project will now face a complicated path in Congress, as there is not much room in the difference between the parties; the division between legislators is very narrow. Thus, while in the House of Representatives there is only a margin of five votes, in favor of the Democrats, the latter in the Senate alone do not collect the 60 votes necessary to approve the measure.

According to various media outlets, officials in the Biden administration point out that the proposal is an attempt by the president to rekindle the conversation about reforming the U.S. immigration system, ensuring that the president is prepared to negotiate the terms.

“It was a commitment from day one for the president and it is his vision of what needs to be done to fix the system,” a senior government official told reporters who preferred not to be identified.

Further, they point out that this Biden bill was born as a result of several independent bills that are already being promoted in Congress, which seek to overhaul smaller parts of the country’s immigration system.

For example, that of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and her Democratic colleague Dick Durbin, who reintroduced their DREAM law, an initiative that also aims to give access to citizenship to immigrants who came illegally to the country as children. .

The main objective of the project is to create a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented migrants, provided that these people are in the United States on January 1, 2021.

While the plan announced on February 18 at the White House offers one of the quickest routes to citizenship compared to other proposals in recent years, it does not offer improved border security, a problem that previous immigration negotiations have used as a way to win. Republican votes. Without better border security, the project may encounter difficulties in a very divided Congress.

The bill seeks to immediately provide immigrant permanent residence cards (“green cards”) to farm workers, who have been granted temporary protection status, and to youth who arrived in the United States without permission as a child. .

For others who lived in the United States until January 1, 2021, the plan sets out a five-year pathway for them to gain temporary legal status, if they pass background checks, pay taxes, and meet other basic requirements. Then, after another three years, they can get citizenship.

People with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which prevents the deportation of nationals of countries affected by natural disasters or armed conflict, and agricultural workers who can demonstrate work experience in the United States will also be able to access the permanent residence.

For Biden “this is an opportunity to revive the debate on immigration reform after the past four years,” added the senior official.

The Trump administration has passed more than 400 executive orders to curb immigration and punish undocumented migrants.

Since coming to power, Biden has announced an immigration flywheel that included the creation of a contingent to reunite families separated by the “zero tolerance” border policy promoted by Trump.

From this week, he will start dismantling the controversial “Stay in Mexico” program, which has forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to stay at the border while their cases are resolved.

The senior official stressed that the law changed the English term “alien” to designate foreigners, by the designation “non-citizen”, in order to “better reflect the values ​​that the president has in matters of immigration.

Other changes he anticipates are an investment of 4,000 million dollars at the border with Mexico and for the Central American region to strengthen security. Also changes in the illegal immigration system, which among other things provide more funding for more immigration judges and focus on access to a lawyer; removes the one-year limit for submitting an asylum application; It repeals bans on re-entering the United States for people who previously resided undocumented in that country.

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