Daily US Times: Joe Biden, who will inaugurate within days, plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on Day One of his presidency, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the US, a massive reversal from the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies.
The legislation puts Joe Biden on track to deliver on a major campaign promise important to Latino communities and other immigrant communities after four years of President Trump’s restrictive policies and mass deportations. It provides one of the fastest pathways to citizenship for the illegal immigrants of any measure in recent years, but it fails to include the traditional trade-off of enhanced border security favored by many Republicans, making passage in a narrowly divided Congress in doubt.
Expected to run hundreds of pages, the bill is set to be introduced after Joe Biden, a Democrat, takes the oath of office Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the bill and granted anonymity to discuss it.
As a candidate, Joe Biden called Donald Trump’s immigration policy an “unrelenting assault” on American values and said he would “undo the damage” while continuing to maintain border enforcement.
Under the bill, those living in the United States as of January 1, 2021, without legal status would have a five-year path to a green card or temporary legal status, if they pass background checks, pay taxes and fulfill other basic requirements. From there, it’s a three-year path to naturalization, if they decide to pursue citizenship.
You may read: Biden says travel bans will stay despite Trump order