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House OKs immigration bill
Measure also would help migrants from troubled countries
Measure to open gateway to citizenship for ‘Dreamers,’ migrant farm workers and disaster victims.
WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to unlatch a gateway to citizenship for young “Dreamers,” migrant farm workers and immigrants who’ve fled war or natural disasters, giving Democrats wins in the year’s first votes on an issue that once again faces an uphill climb to make progress in the Senate.
On a near party-line 228-197 vote, lawmakers approved one bill offering legal status to around 2 million “Dreamers,” brought to the U.S. illegally as children, and hundreds of thousands of other migrants from a dozen troubled countries.
They then voted 247-174 for a second measure creating similar protections for 1 million farm workers who have worked in the U.S. illegally; the government estimates they comprise half the nation’s agricultural laborers.
Both bills hit a wall of opposition from Republicans insistent that any immigration legislation bolster security at the Mexican border, which waves of migrants have tried breaching in recent weeks. The GOP has accused congressional Democrats of ignoring that problem and President Joe Biden of fueling it by erasing former President Donald Trump’s restrictive policies, even though that surge began while Trump was in office.
While “Dreamers” win wide public support and migrant farm workers are a backbone of the agriculture industry, both House bills face gloomy prospects in the evenly split Senate. That chamber’s 50 Democrats will need at least 10 GOP supporters to break Republican filibusters.
The outlook was even grimmer for Biden’s more ambitious goal of legislation making citizenship possible for all 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, easing visa restrictions, improving border security technology and spending billions in Central America to ease problems that prompt people to leave.
Congress has deadlocked over immigration for years, and the issue once again seemed headed toward becoming political ammunition. Republicans could use it to rally conservative voters in upcoming elections, while Democrats could add it to a stack of House-passed measures languishing in the Senate to build support for abolishing that chamber’s bill-killing filibusters.
Democrats said their measures were aimed not at border security but at addressing groups of immigrants who deserve to be helped.
“They’re so much of our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said of “Dreamers,” who like many immigrants have held front-line jobs during the pandemic. “These immigrant communities strengthen, enrich and ennoble our nation, and they must be allowed to stay.”
Neither House measure would directly affect those trying to cross the boundary from Mexico. Republicans criticized them anyway for lacking border security provisions and turned the debate into an opportunity to lambast Biden, who’s ridden a wave of popularity since taking office and winning a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
“It is a Biden border crisis, and it is spinning out of control,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Nine largely moderate Republicans joined all Democrats in backing the “Dreamers” bill.
The House approved similar versions of the “Dreamer” and farm worker bills in 2019. Seven Republicans voted for the “Dreamers” bill and 34 backed the farm workers measure that year.
Both 2019 measures died in what was a Republican-run Senate. Neither would have been signed by Trump, who spent his four years as president constricting legal and illegal immigration.
In contrast, Biden has suspended work on Trump’s wall along the Mexican border, ended his separation of young children from migrant families and allowed apprehended minors to stay in the U.S. as officials decide if they can legally remain. He has also turned away most single adults and families.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden supports both bills as “critical milestones toward much needed relief for the millions of individuals who call the United States home.”
The “Dreamer” bill would grant conditional legal status for 10 years to many immigrants up to age 18 who were brought into the U.S. illegally before this year. They’d have to graduate from high school or have equivalent educational credentials, not have serious criminal records and meet other conditions.
To attain legal permanent residence, often called a green card, they’d have to obtain a higher education degree, serve in the military or be employed for at least three years.
Like all others with green cards, they could then apply for citizenship after five years.
The other bill would let immigrant farm workers who’ve worked in the country illegally over the past two years — along their spouses and children — get certified agriculture worker status. That would let them remain in the U.S. for renewable 5 ½-year periods.
To earn green cards, they would have to pay a $1,000 fine and work for up to an additional eight years, depending on how long they’ve already held farm jobs.