Democrat Senator Bob Menendez and a number of other leftist lawmakers on Capitol Hill will officially introduce a massive amnesty bill backed by the White House and President Joe Biden Thursday morning. The legislation will be known as the "U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021" and rewards at least 11 million people who came to the country illegally. From the Associated Press:
While the plan offers one of the fastest pathways to citizenship of any proposed measure in recent years, it does so without offering any enhanced border security, which past immigration negotiations have used as a way to win Republican votes. Without enhanced security, it faces tough odds in a closely divided Congress.
The bill would immediately provide green cards to farm workers, those with temporary protected status and young people who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children. For others living in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2021, the plan establishes a five-year path to temporary legal status, if they pass background checks, pay taxes and fulfill other basic requirements. Then, after three years, they can pursue citizenship.
Recent reports also show the Biden administration stripping legal terms like "illegal alien" from government documents.
Department of Homeland Security officials have been directed to stop using words such as “alien” and “illegal alien” from communications with the public or within the agency when referring to people who aren’t US citizens in an effort by the Biden administration to recast immigration terminology.
The planned wording change, recounted in a memo obtained by BuzzFeed News, is the latest flashpoint in a yearslong debate over the way immigrants are described in federal laws and by the agencies that oversee immigration.
The term "alien" is found within US Code and is regularly referenced in the immigration system and in court rulings to describe everyone who is not a US citizen. In recent years, however, the word has been wiped from the California Labor Code and the Library of Congress after advocacy efforts.
Meanwhile, Republicans are sounding the alarm about the consequences of Biden's sweeping executive actions on illegal immigration and warning the policies are tying the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
??JUST NOW??
— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) February 17, 2021
@RepJamesComer & @Jim_Jordan sent a letter to @ICEgov expressing concerns over reports the Biden Administration instructed the agency to no longer take action against dangerous criminal gangs or serious offenders. This radical policy places Americans at risk. ?? pic.twitter.com/6MBQOnTKta