A humane immigration plan worthy of support

President Joe Biden has offered a comprehensive immigration plan worthy of bipartisan support. Will it receive the bipartisan backing it deserves? If past is prologue, Congress will fail to seize the opportunity.

Nevertheless, let’s be clear, this is a dramatic shift from the cruelty manifest in immigration policies under the Trump administration. Biden’s plan is humane, fair, smart on security and realistic about our workforce. By putting it forward at the start of his presidency, Biden has signaled seriousness about a hot-button issue that has for too long divided this nation.

This is not about building walls and demonizing people but building economic and humane solutions for the betterment of the United States and the Americas.

Rolling back Trump-era initiatives, including the construction of a border wall, the plan is bold and ambitious, proposing nothing less than a legislative overhaul of the U.S. immigration system.

The U.S. Citizenship Act would fortify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects “Dreamers,” and institute an eight-year path to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

Immigration advocates said the bill would repair the damage done over the last four years.

“(The bill), combined with longer-term changes, will ensure a brighter and better future for America,” said Benjamin Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Johnson is right. Immigrants, despite living in the shadows, are part of the national fabric. They have proved to be essential workers during the pandemic, as Trump acknowledged when he allowed the government to continue processing thousands of visas for temporary workers, including farmworkers and crop pickers — jobs spurned by U.S. citizens.

The plan also seeks to address root causes in Central America to limit the flow of migrants from these countries. We’ve long argued the Northern Triangle of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is desperately in need of a modern Marshall Plan.

Despite the bold but reasonable approach the new president is taking, it will not be easy. There is a reason this has failed so many times. We can hear the chants of “Amnesty!” now. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

It’s here that our attention turns to Texas Sen.

John Cornyn, who during the fall election expressed immense regret for congressional failure to provide Dreamers with a path to citizenship.

Cornyn’s stated support for a clean bill for Dreamers that provides a path to citizenship was a shift in policy and outlook for the senior senator from Texas. As has been previously reported, back in 2017 he said Trump was right to end DACA. He also voted against clean DACA bills in 2007 and 2010.

During our Editorial Board interview in September, Cornyn said of Dreamers: “We don’t blame children for the mistakes of their parents in America. It was unfair to leverage them for other immigration reform that I wanted or that my side wanted.”

Well, senator, here is your chance to make amends.

For comprehensive immigration reform to succeed under a Democratic president and in a divided Senate, there must be room for Republican input, particularly around security. It’s here we believe Cornyn has the power to influence a Democratic bill and build support from other Republican senators.

There is a window of opportunity here. Seize it.

Jason Armond / Tribune News Service A father and a daughter are reunited in Los Angeles last January after they were separated under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy. President Joe Biden’s immigration plan is much different from Trump’s.