On his first day in office, President Biden ambitiously proposed a comprehensive immigration reform package that would provide a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States; but less than a week into his term, the comprehensive immigration bill is already seen as a “bad start” by not only Republicans, but also by Democrats, who agree that it is a “daunting task.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL), who led the Biden immigration legislation, noted that the Democrats will aim to pass a comprehensive immigration bill, but the final coordinated bill is likely to be a narrower bill that begins with creating a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
Comprehensive immigration passed the House but not the Senate
Biden has proposed a comprehensive immigration bill that would provide farmworkers and young “Dreamers” with an accelerated path to citizenship and change the legal immigration, refugee, and asylum systems; the proposal differs from past compromise bills in that it lacks the Republican response of increasing border security or deterrence; some Democrats have admitted that even if the bill gets out of the House, it is likely to be opposed by Republicans in the Senate.
The Senate currently has 50-50 bipartisan seats, but most legislation requires 60 votes to pass.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.Y.), the bill’s sponsor and a Democrat, said on the 21st that developing the bill was “a daunting task,” and that if Republicans did not cooperate, the bill could not be completed; but he said Biden and Vice President He Jinli were strongly supportive of the effort; he said, “They want to get it done, and we will get it done.
But some Republicans who might be willing to work with the Biden Administration on immigration policy say Biden is off on the wrong foot; Republican Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said, “There are commonalities, yes, but the most problematic thing is that when we start the immigration conversation, all of a sudden we say, ‘We’re going to start with everybody who’s already in this country, no matter how they got here, they’re all going to suddenly become legal citizens. will suddenly become legal citizens.’ That’s a very bad place to start.’
White House officials said privately that the comprehensive immigration bill was intended primarily as a “starting point to unite the Democratic Party,” and also to try to achieve immigration policy within the first six months of the new administration and to ensure that any legislation would not affect the 2022 midterm elections; after all, midterm elections are generally a disadvantage for the ruling party, which has to be careful about facing controversial topics.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has worked with Democrats on immigration bills in the past, said this year’s “comprehensive immigration bill is a hard sell,” and that the Senate should end up with a short-term deal similar to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, based on a 50-50 vote.
The Democratic Senate Majority Leader Schumer needs at least 60 votes to get the immigration reform bill passed, while the Democrats only have 50 votes.
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