House Passes Path to Citizenship Legislation, Faces Uphill Battle in Senate

As thousands are apprehended crossing the border illegally every day, the House passed legislation to provide a legal status and eventually citizenship for million in the U.S. illegally. The left called it “life-changing” while the right says it sends the wrong signals in the middle of a border crisis.

Summary

Amid the crush of unaccompanied minors at the U.S.-Mexico border, the House passed legislation that would offer citizenship to adults living in the United States illegally after having been brought to the country as children.

• The Dream and Promise Act would also provide a path toward citizenship for those in the United States under “Temporary Protected Status”, typically associated with immigrants who fled civil unrest and natural disasters.
• In a separate bill, “similar protections” for illegal immigrant agriculture workers were passed by the House.
• Prospects of passage in the Senate are slim as Senate Republicans, even those who introduced bipartisan legislation, are loathe to support any immigration reforms without action on border security.

• The New York Times hailed the bills as “significant milestones” for 11 million immigrants residing in the country illegally, which the Times purports “enjoys broad public support.”
• Huffington Post lauded the actions, saying they are “life-changing for undocumented immigrants” (AP Stylebook stopped using the term “illegal immigrant” in 2013).
• Vox highlighted the handful of Republicans who supported the bills, noting those who supported citizenship paths for farm workers come from districts with significant agriculture business interests.

• Fox News emphasized Republican pushback to the bills, which were characterized as “magnets” for people attempting to enter the country illegally even as the United States is dealing with a border crisis.
• On the same day the House passed path-to-citizenship bills, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was caught in a verbal slip, OANN reported, when she accidentally called the border crisis a crisis.
• Townhall.com collated conservative groups’ opposition to the bills, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which called the legislation “amnesty” that “is an affront to commonsense” given the current border crisis.

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© Dallas Gerber, 2021