Nearly 20 senators came together to call on President Joe Biden to approve a streamlined path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
The group said undocumented immigrants with no criminal history and “deep ties” to the United States should be able to obtain parole or a lawful immigration status in a new letter.
Democratic senators listed on the letter were: Michael Bennet of Colorado, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler of California, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
“Streamlining pathways for undocumented immigrants with no criminal history and deep ties to the United States to obtain parole or a lawful immigration status would provide stability to their families, require them to pay taxes, and to check in with the U.S. government regularly,” the senators said in the letter.
National Guard soldiers patrol at the entrance to Shelby Park on March 12 in Eagle Pass, Texas. A group of senators called for President Joe Biden to streamline the path to citizenship for millions of…
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Nationally, undocumented immigrants pay around $9.7 billion in federal and state taxes as well as more than $11 billion into the ailing Social Security system. Many of these immigrants are also a part of American citizens’ families, as more than 1.1 million U.S. citizens have an undocumented immigrant as a spouse, and 4.9 million U.S. citizen children have an undocumented parent.
“Deporting all such individuals—as former President Donald Trump has threatened to do if Reelected—would devastate the American economy and destroy American families,” the letter read.
The senators gave several recommendations to get a streamlined process to citizenship in place. They asked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to make a process to protect and unify American families. They also would like to see executive action to enable spouses of Americans to work while their green card cases are pending and an overall streamlined process for DACA recipients to change to nonimmigrant status.
The senators are also calling on Biden to modernize the removal rules so family caregivers can stay together.
“Such a process would help to streamline cancellation of removal cases and increase access to lawful permanent resident status for immigrants who are vital contributors to their American families—often as caregivers to children with acute needs—and our communities,” the senators said.
Some of the actions outlined in the letter seem to be easy fixes within the president’s control, such as allowing spouses of citizens to work while waiting for their green card cases to clear, according to Michael Montgomery, a professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
“Each chips away at a little bit of the problem of people physically present in the US for explicable reasons who nonetheless have had no certainty they can remain here,” Montgomery told Newsweek. “Letting the spouses of American citizens work while their applications for a green card are pending should be a no-brainer. Those are eventually going to be approved anyways.”
Dreamers, or people who were brought to the United States as undocumented immigrants during childhood, continue to be punished for “the sins of the father,” Montgomery said, and the moves outlined in the letter could help prevent that.
“It’s time to stop doing that and let these young people who were brought here as children and have no other home stay permanently and with a clear immigration status,” said Montgomery, who formerly worked as a U.S. vice consul in Bogota, Colombia.
Still, Montgomery does not anticipate conservatives allowing the measures to pass with smooth sailing.
“Each of these measures will be attacked from the right and, if adopted, might ultimately cost Biden more support than they bring him,” Montgomery said.
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