President Biden’s Immigration Proposal
Republican Senators Pour Cold Water. Indicate Narrower Bill Maybe Possible.
President Biden’s comprehensive immigration proposals arrived on Capitol Hill and was immediately met with strong opposition from Republicans. The Biden proposal would create a pathway to citizenship to the over 11 million undocumented individuals as well as those in temporary protected status. The immigration bill’s impact on business immigration is not far reaching, particularly since some of the elements can be impacted through regulatory processes that are under the control of the Executive Branch already. The issue of removing per country limitations on the allocation of Greencard is included in Biden’s proposal and will require Congressional approval before it can be implemented.
President Biden’s policies are both substantive and symbolic – his proposals include replacing word ‘alien’ with ‘noncitizen’ when referring to immigrants.
Congressional Republicans have already termed the Biden proposals as “amnesty” and said that they would not support it. The Democrats will need to win over 10 Republican Senators to overcome any filibuster of the legislation and pass an immigration bill. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a key architect of a previous immigration reform proposal, indicated that there might be a possibility of a narrower deal involving Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Through that legislative process, some additional measures may be included. While we expect those measures to be limited in scope, the recent Senate and House action through S.386/HR1044 speaks to the negative mood on Capitol Hill towards business immigration.
We will monitor this issue and update our clients as more information becomes available.
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