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US President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have proposed a major immigration overhaul. It would offer an 8-year pathway to citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living illegally in the United States. The legislation reflects the broad priorities for immigration changes that Biden laid out on his first day in office. It includes an increase in visas, more money to process asylum applications, and new technology at the southern border. The move would be a sharp reversal of Trump administration policies, but it will likely face opposition from a number of Republicans. President Biden has acknowledged he might accept a more-piecemeal approach if separate major elements could be approved. A Democratic Senator, Bob Menendez said, “We have an economic and moral imperative to pass big, bold and inclusive immigration reform”.

Menendez said, “Democrats have failed in the past due to they have too quickly given in to fringe voices who have refused to accept the humanity and contributions of immigrants to our country and dismiss everything, no matter how significant it is in terms of the national security, as amnesty”. Point to be noted that separate enforcement guidelines were released on Thursday by the new administration. It would target immigration enforcement more directly at people in the country illegally who pose a threat. The major immigration overhaul legislation would offer one of the fastest pathways to citizenship of any proposed measure in recent years. But, it would do so without offering any enhanced border security. Menendez said he had been speaking to Republican colleagues in an effort toward putting the pieces of a puzzle together on a bill.

It is noteworthy that the bill introduced by Democrats would immediately provide green cards to farmworkers, immigrants with temporary protected status, and young people who arrived in the US illegally as children. The plan establishes a five-year path to temporary legal status for others living in the US as of 1^st Jan 2021. They can pursue citizenship after 3-year if they pass background checks, pay taxes, and fulfill other basic requirements. The plan also would raise the current per-country caps for family and employment-based immigrant visas. It would effectively finish the penalty barring those immigrants who live in the US without authorization and who then leave the country from returning for 3 to 10 years. The bill would expand transnational anti-drug task forces in Central America and enhance technology at the border.