Multi-Trillion Anti-Poverty Package: Biden to Include Immigration Policy, Push For Pathway to Citizenship

President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for a Democratic attempt to include immigration policy into his multi-trillion anti-poverty program.

Biden Assures Support for Pathway to Citizenship of Undocumented Immigrants

In a recently published article in CNN News, President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for a Democratic attempt to incorporate immigration policy in his multi-trillion anti-poverty plan on Thursday. He told a gathering of legislators that he would stand by them in their efforts to see a route to citizenship for millions of people passed into law.

Sen. Richard Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat, verified this after a meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office to discuss the next steps in establishing a route to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. He also said that Biden knows the challenges the lawmakers face in pushing for the citizenship of undocumented immigrants.

Furthermore, obtaining Biden's outspoken and consistent support is a key component of Democratic legislators' efforts to grab a chance to incorporate long-awaited immigration reform objectives without requiring Republican cooperation in the House, according to a published article in Local News8.

Lawmakers Requested a Meeting With Biden After a Federal Judge Ruled Out Against DACA

The meeting with Biden was requested by a group of 11 lawmakers, all of whom are key players in immigration efforts, shortly after a federal judge in Texas ruled earlier this month that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects certain undocumented immigrants from deportation, was unconstitutional.

That decision, which Biden said his Justice Department would appeal earlier this month, prevented the government from accepting new DACA applications, casting fresh uncertainty on the destiny of the hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants protected under the Obama administration's DACA program, according to WRAL News.

The backlash has fueled legislators' efforts to address the Dreamer population permanently via a broad package Democrats intend to pursue through a budgetary procedure that would enable legislation to clear the Senate with a simple majority vote.

Reconciliation Package

With the party controlling just 50 seats in the Senate and the current round of bipartisan immigration reform negotiations stalled, legislators are focusing on adding major immigration reform provisions in the so-called "reconciliation package."

In a recently published article in MSN News, the size of the plan is still being worked out; but Democrats have said that they want to offer a route to citizenship for Dreamers, as well as those with Temporary Protected Status and undocumented vital workers.

Rep. Raul Ruiz, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the caucus was seeking to broaden the scope of the endeavor by combining several different immigration ideas into one package that would pass the test under Senate rules. As the dual-track process to implement Biden's $4 trillion economic plan moves ahead in Congress, that procedure is presently ongoing.

The Senate rules, on the other hand, have created doubts about whether the immigration initiatives will ever make it through the process, even if they get enough Democratic support in both houses. The legislators made it plain that they were trying to create a case for the immigration restrictions to be kept in place.

Tags

Immigrants, Undocumented immigrants, Lawmakers, Citizenship