Biden will pledge to tackle immigration overhaul in address to Congress, while signal

April 28, 2021 at 4:00 a.m. CDT
President Biden will recommit himself to overhauling the immigration system Wednesday during his first address to Congress, while signaling openness to Congress passing smaller parts of his agenda that have bipartisan support, including guaranteeing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Biden will call on Congress to pass his immigration proposal, which includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants and funding for security upgrades at the border and ports of entry, according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the address ahead of its public release. The move marks an attempt by Biden to show his seriousness on immigration policy at a time when he is under attack from Republicans over the migrant surge at the border and from Democrats over his handling of how many refugees should be allowed into the country.

Biden fulfilled his campaign promise to send an immigration bill to Congress on the first day of his administration, but the legislation has taken a back seat to more pressing issues for the White House, such as the recently enacted coronavirus relief bill and his infrastructure proposal.

At the border, a widely predicted crisis that caught Biden off guard

Even without the political fallout from the administration’s handling of a surge of Central American migrants at the border, a comprehensive immigration bill would be difficult to get through Congress given the need to secure at least 10 Senate Republican votes for its passage.

The influx of unaccompanied minors at the U.S.-Mexico border stems from crisis in Central America and Trump-era immigration policy. (Blair Guild/The Washington Post)

Given this political reality, according to the official, Biden will also use his address to a joint session of Congress to push for more targeted legislation that would guarantee a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, known as “dreamers,” allow farmworkers already in the country to earn legal status and ease restrictions on visas for seasonal agricultural workers. Both bills passed the House with bipartisan support: The dreamers bill passed with nine Republican votes, while the farmworkers legislation had the support of 30 Republicans.

To make his sell, especially to skeptical Republicans, Biden will outline how immigrants play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy and competitive economy, the official said.

Former president Donald Trump made restricting immigration a signature issue during his time in office and often used harsh rhetoric, which was at times called racist, to describe foreigners seeking to come to the United States. Many Republicans rallied behind this agenda, including Trump’s campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, making any bipartisan deals a nonstarter.


But with Trump out of office, there have been some signs that there could be agreement between the parties on some immigration issues.

A bipartisan group of 14 senators — five Republicans and nine Democrats — are meeting in hopes of striking a deal on a narrower immigration compromise that would marry border security priorities important to Republicans with a pathway to citizenship for farmworkers and dreamers. Senators are discussing all bills that have been introduced, including a bipartisan measure recently proposed by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) on border security. These talks, however, are not very far along and a deal would be difficult to strike.

To lead ICE, Biden picks Texas sheriff who criticized Trump’s immigration policies

Biden is also expected to applaud Vice President Harris for her work on engaging with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala — the Northern Triangle countries many migrants are leaving to escape violence and poverty. Republicans have criticized Harris for not traveling to the southern U.S. border to assess the situation there, but the White House has dismissed these attacks, noting that her assignment is to deal with the cause of the migration as other administration officials focus on problems at the border.


Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are continuing to push Biden to include parts of proposed immigration legislation into the second plank of his infrastructure package, the “American Families Plan,” which he plans to announce on Wednesday. Although it is not expected to be included, caucus members may be pleased with the president’s attention to immigration during his first speech before Congress.

The handful of caucus members who met with Biden last week urged him to mention his support of the bills already proposed in Congress.

In June 2012, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that allowed dreamers to stay in the country and work without the threat of being deported. Democrats have been seeking to codify that program ever since, particularly after it survived Trump’s attempt to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the policy’s official name.


Many Republicans have expressed support for permanently addressing the fate of dreamers, and it remains at the center of any potential immigration deal.

“I have always said that I’m open to finding — it doesn’t necessarily have to be the U.S. Citizenship Act, but it has to be more robust than dreamers,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “If dreamers is all that happens, the community won’t be happy and I won’t be.”

As for Republicans, several strategists responsible for political messaging said that striking a deal on immigration may dampen efforts to pressure Biden on the migrant surge at the border, which Republicans have grabbed onto as a political issue.

“What we really need is for [Biden] to admit that his policies and rhetoric caused the crisis. The results of this crisis are as predictable as they are disastrous — for both migrants and American citizens,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on the House floor last week while the chamber debated legislation that would bar future presidents from implementing countrywide travel bans — a bill introduced in response to Trump’s attempt early in his administration to ban travelers from several majority-Muslim countries.


Biden rescinded Trump’s travel ban on Muslim countries during his first day as president, completing a campaign promise.

Republicans blame Biden policies — such as his decision to halt the construction of Trump’s border wall and an order clarifying that only undocumented immigrants who pose a national, border or public security risk should be deported — as reasons there are currently problems dealing with the number of migrants at the border.

“These priorities are almost a parody of left-wing governance,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last week. “Not securing the border. Not a better plan for these children. Just ‘woke’ proofreading. This is not going to get the job done.”

Biden has defended his approach, saying many of Trump’s policies were inhumane and that the flow of migrants at the border is, in part, seasonal.


The president has faced the fiercest backlash from his party for breaking his promise to raise the cap on the number of refugees that can be admitted to the United States each year. The White House quickly reversed course and said it will have a new proposal out soon.

Refugee cap Biden administration touted — then ditched — is back on table

Biden faced sharp criticism from activists early on in his campaign for not paying enough attention to the Hispanic community, a mistake he tried to reverse by pledging to send Congress an immigration bill on his first day as president.

Since taking office, Biden has taken several actions on immigration to fulfill promises he made on the campaign trail, such as signing an executive order that created a task force to unite 600 children separated from their parents during the Trump administration. He has partially completed some promises, like preventing undocumented military veterans from deportation and streamlining the naturalization process. He also attempted to pause deportations for his first 100 days, a move that was blocked by a judge in Texas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...3b5_story.html

Pathway for all 11 mil....dead on arrival

"Biden will call on Congress to pass his immigration proposal which includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants"

No glorious, massive, imminent deal. :P

I don't agree with that. Legalization of undocumented people is LONG over due. Congress needs to address this.

All this should start with immediate legalization of all Dreamers. A massive deal is brewing with regards to Dreamers for sure. Synema and Johnny Cornyn seem to be leading the efforts in the Senate...two unlikely people...If Dicky Durbin can shake hands with the duo, we can possibly have a phenomenal compromise. And now even Mitchy "The Turtle" McConnell is expressing sympathies for Dreamers...

A wise man once said.....You have to pick your battles.

Legalization for all is indeed DOA. He knows that. He's instead trying to say between the lines he's willing to settle for a permanent solution for DACAers and related.

Got it ?

Same old Democratic tactic. Let’s put an immigration bill that has no chance of passing, but at least we showed the Hispanic community “we tried”.

It’s the same playbook over and over. No wonder they are losing the Latino vote.

How about sitting down with Congress and compromising on a border security bill paired with legalization of Dreamers. But introducing the same bill over and over again is insanity and expecting a different result. Let’s stop with the games!

Yes, same strategy used by UWD. Continue making sure only the most radical left bills are introduced in Congress. That way...they can tell people "Look we tried...They are still after us! Keep donating!" "Vamos!" "