The president, Joe Biden, after his inauguration in January, proposed a comprehensive reform of the immigration system that included a process to grant permanent residency and, eventually, citizenship to some 11 to 12 million immigrants.
That idea did not get enough support and Democrats chose to focus on four groups: those protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA, known as “dreamers”) program, those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). ), agricultural workers and those classified as “essential”.
“I have always said that the Democrats should not abandon any option to obtain a path to citizenship for the dreamers, Tepesianos (protected by the TPS) and agricultural and essential workers,” Senator Bob Menéndez, a Democrat from New Jersey, told EFE.
“And that is exactly what we do taking advantage of this moment,” he added. “We trust the arguments we have prepared for the ‘parliamentarian’.”
And a congressional source told Efe that “the Democrats are united, from President Biden to the leaders in Congress” in this objective, the final result of which will be known in a few weeks. “We are very optimistic.”
For his part, Senator Álex Padilla, Democrat of California, pointed out on Twitter that “the most prominent economists agree: a path towards citizenship is a key component of a just, equitable and robust economic recovery.”
After months of negotiations that made little progress to gain the support of some Republicans, the Democrats, who have a slight majority in both houses of Congress, opted for the “reconciliation” route, which allows approval with only 51 votes in the Senate. .
The Democratic Party has 50 senators and the Republicans with 50, for which the tiebreaker vote corresponds to the vice president, Kamala Harris. The legislative mechanism of “budget reconciliation” circumvents the requirement of 60 votes in the Senate.
The Biden administration has proposed a $ 3.5 trillion budget package, and Democrats emphasize their estimate that the regularization of immigrants will add trillions of dollars to the nation’s economy.
For their part, Republicans object that these proposals are not of a true budgetary nature.
MacDonough, a nonpartisan official, already disappointed Democrats in February when she decided it was inappropriate to include a proposal by the Biden administration to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour in the $ 1.9 trillion package to alleviate the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
In the absence of knowing the opinion of the “parliamentarian”, it is known that a vast majority of Americans support a process that regularizes and gives citizenship to those who are already in the country under temporary programs or without legal documents, according to numerous surveys in that sense.
Driven by this endorsement and years of waiting, immigrant advocacy groups have stepped up their campaigns and lobbying in recent weeks, signaling to Democrats the urgency of action this year, and reminding them that 66% of Latino voters contributed to Biden’s victory last November.
And the pressure is also growing on the more progressive wing of Democrats and Latino representatives such as Chuy García, from Illinois, who warned his party today that if he does not include immigration reform in the “reconciliation” project, he will not be able to count on your vote to carry out the national budget.
The Hispanic position is key because Democrats have a slim majority in the House of Representatives and can only afford to lose a few votes within their ranks.
“My position is firm: there is no immigration reform, there is no vote. Look, the Democratic leadership cannot lose more than three votes. So let’s raise the stakes, ”he said Friday in a conference call organized by the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC).
But the viability of a partial immigration reform within the budget process has been complicated by the constant arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly Central Americans, to the southern border, leading Republicans even more to reject any measure in this regard. matter.
The Senate is considering two laws, already approved by the House of Representatives, that would open the path to citizenship to millions of undocumented “dreamers”, “Tepesianos” and agricultural workers, although until now without sufficient Republican support, so “reconciliation” is presented as the most viable option.
It only remains to know what the “parliamentarian” will say. If you say yes, millions of immigrants could start celebrating their final regularization.
