The Time is Now for Bold Action on Immigration
On March 18th, 2021, the house passed the Dream And Promise Act of 2021 and the Farm Workers Modernization Act of 2021. In total between these two bills over 5 million immigrants would be eligible for a path to citizenship. Less than half of what Biden wanted with the U.S. Citizenship act he had proposed at the start of his presidency. Although it would not be a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Immigration reform bills have been in circulation ever since 2001, where the first version of the Dream Act was introduced. Unfortunately it did not make It out of committee. The closest the bill has made it was in 2010, when it was five votes short in order to qualify for a vote in the Senate because of the filibuster. Two Years later, President Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as a way to make up for the loss that had previously happened.
The thing about DACA is that Obama never created it with the intentions of it being a pathway to citizenship. It was not meant to solve the problem but merely as a way to cool the situation while a permanent solution was found. As of now, it has been nine years since that executive action was passed and nothing has been done to bring a permanent solution to help undocumented people in the United States.
The Dream and Promise Act that we know today actually made it out of the House in 2019, but failed in the Senate because the Republicans were In control. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act has also been in circulation but has also never passed in the Senate. This bill would give farm works the opportunity to apply for citizenship if they meet certain requirements.
Having both of these bills considered again brings a lot of hope to immigrants across the nation. Immigration reform has changed over the years and this year in particular, the requests in these bills have been bold. After a tumultuous 2020,, many people are tired of waiting and hearing false promises. They will no longer accept the bare minimum.
The latest iteration of the Dream and Promise Act changed some aspects of the previous bill including a change to eligibility. Now instead of having to have come to the country before age 16, the age has been changed to 18. The bill only applies to immigrants who entered the country before January of 2021. This vastly expands who would be eligible under the program including parents of dreamers and Temporary Protective Status (TPS) holders.
Another change in the 2021 Dream and Promise Act is the fact that it does not include any money for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and border protection. Unlike previous bills, this bill would only deal with how to help people instead of continuing to fund government agencies that work inhumanely and do nothing but harm Brown and Black communities.
Because of the boldness of the bill, many people across the country are afraid that the bill will not make it past the Senate. Republicans may filibuster the bill which in turn would mean that the bill would have to gain the support of at least 10 Republicans. In the House, the bill only managed to pick up nine Republican votes out of the 212 Republicans in that chamber.
To bring some measure of justice to the over 5 million immigrants that could benefit, Democrats have to fight to get these bills passed. They have some options. They could bring an end to the filibuster, use the nuclear option to pass the bill without having to have the 60 votes, or simply convince 10 Republicans to vote to have a vote on the bill.
The time is now to make sure the bills pass without there being any amendments added by the Republicans that would limit who is eligible. This will have to be a nationwide effort. These bills would help out Brown and Black communities finally be treated with the respect and human kindness they deserve.
Here are steps you can take and organizations you could get in contact with:
Call your Senators: If enough people are calling their offices about the same topic, they may feel pressured to vote in favor of the bill.
Get in contact with local non-profits! If you live in Arizona for example, you could reach out to the Arizona Dream Act Coalition via instagram or facebook. There are non-profits everywhere fighting for human rights, not only undocumented rights.
Educate people on what is really happening.
Together we can end this nightmare of a situation that has been going on for far too long and finally allow Dreamers to actually achieve their dreams.