Democrats Strategizing on Immigration Reform, Piecemeal or the Whole Enchilada?

Advocates are pushing for Congress to pass immigration reform, which has been discussed and debated for well over twenty years.  In this commentary for the Sacramento Bee, I outline how President Biden has made immigration reform a priority: “After four years of the Trump administration’s hyper-aggressive immigration measures, Joe Biden ran for president promising dramatic change to U.S. immigration law and enforcement. He has quickly moved to change the direction of the nation’s immigration policies. Whether Biden ultimately succeeds will have a big impact on California, which has the largest population of immigrants of any state.”    

Priscilla Alvarez, Lauren Fox and Daniella Diaz on CNN report that Democrats in Congress are wrestling with how to move forward with immigration reform, with some pushing for sweeping immigration revisions out of the gate and others urging caution.

Lawmakers are hoping to resurface immigration bills on the House floor before April 1, a period in which they can introduce legislation in the new session that’s already passed without going through committee again. Those bills would grant legal status to undocumented farmworkers and address immigrants who unlawfully came to the United States as children, as well as Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

In addition,  the US Citizenship Act tackles the whole US immigration system and seeks to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

President Biden said during a CNN town hall that he wants a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants but signaled willingness to pass other immigration measures in the interim.

KJ