The House passed two bills Thursday to provide a path to legal status for millions of undocumented people living in the U.S. -- part of Democrats’ scaled back plans for immigration reform as a surge of migrants at the southern border puts pressure on the Biden administration.
Nine Republicans joined all House Democrats to pass the Dream and Promise Act, H.R. 6, on a 228-197 vote, which would provide green cards and the prospect of eventual citizenship to young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers. The House also approved, 247-174, another bill to provide legal status for migrant agricultural workers, with 30 Republicans voting in favor.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has adopted a piecemeal approach to immigration, lacking the votes for President Joe Biden’s more comprehensive proposal. But even the narrow bills on the House floor Thursday face a tougher sell in the Senate where they would need the support of at least 10 Republicans under the chamber’s current rules.
There has long been bipartisan support for the Dream Act, first introduced 20 years ago, although Republicans say such protections should be paired with tougher border security. Pelosi on Thursday described the potential beneficiaries of the measure as people who “have lived and worked in our country for decades, if not their entire lives.”
Yet immigration has become an increasingly fraught political issue and one that the GOP will try to use against Democrats in next year’s midterm elections. Republicans on Thursday criticized the timing of the legislation, as illegal border crossings have spiked in recent weeks.
“Bringing an amnesty bill to the floor this week in the middle of a total crisis on our southern border not only is tone deaf, but is wrong,” said Texas Representative August Pfluger, one of the Republicans who went to the border Monday. “This bill will only incentivize more illegal crossings. What a week to put this bill to a vote.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday mocked the House for acting on legislation that doesn’t address the recent increase of people detained at the border, noting that the Biden administration called in the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with the surge during a global pandemic.
“Are they leaping into action to repair the crisis?” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “No -- they’re taking up an amnesty plan that would create a special new pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants working in certain industries.”
Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida said she voted for the Dreamers legislation -- even though GOP leaders urged no votes -- to send a message that her party is willing to help fix the immigration system. Still, she called the legislation “just posturing” by Democrats.
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