The Democratic administration of Joe Biden unveiled its proposed immigration law through which illegal migrants in the US, approximately 11 million today, could obtain US citizenship within 8 years.
The bill, titled the US Citizenship Act of 2021, also includes a shorter path to obtaining legal status in the country for farmworkers and beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
On the other hand, the reform implies allocating 4 billion dollars from the national budget to, among other things, deploy a patrol on the US borders with Mexico and Canada, in which technology will have a strong presence.
In addition, the bill also establishes a plan to “confront corruption, improve security and promote prosperity” in the communities of origin of the migrants, most of whom come from Mexico and Central America.
Part of those funds would go to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to hire more staff and streamline the asylum application processes.
“The previous administration focused solely on the wall and did nothing to address the root causes of why people are reaching the Southwest border, causing a humanitarian crisis,” argued a White House spokesman.
Now the bill must go through the US Congress to be approved. There he will be promoted by Representative Linda Sánchez, a Democrat from California, and by Cuban-American Senator Bob Menéndez, a Democrat from New Jersey.
What would the process to obtain US citizenship look like?
First, people would be in temporary status for five years, with three more years until they obtain citizenship, while they study their citizenship process and prepare to pass the exam that includes an American language and culture test.
However, an exception is contemplated for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children and for which they have no responsibility in the action taken by their parents and relatives.
In these cases, minors may directly opt for a residence permit (green cards). Although it will not be expedited either as it includes the criminal record check.
An important deadline is January 1, 2021, all those eligible under the new law must have entered the country before that date.
It would increase the number of visas granted under the Visa Lottery program (the hype)
The legislative proposal aims to increase the number of visas granted under the Visa Lottery program (the hype). Instead of 55 thousand a year the figure would rise to 80 thousand.