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The Biden administration is preparing to unveil legislation by the end of this week that would seek a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Immigration reform has escaped Congress for decades, and this bill faces an uphill battle as Democrats hold narrow majorities in the House and the Senate. Republicans have also moved to the right on the issue of immigration in the years since reform talks began. The bill includes boosts to border technology and funding to address the “root causes of migration,” a White House fact sheet details. CNN
In other federal immigration news…
Biden Adviser Believes DREAM Act Will Pass
Cecilia Muñoz, one of Biden’s key advisers on immigration, told Aarti Shahani on the Vox Conversations podcast that the U.S.’s aging economy needs more migration. Existing immigration enforcement mechanisms are “out of balance” with that goal, she said. Muñoz criticized former President Bill Clinton’s reforms that created automatic deportations for immigrants arrested for minor crimes. “Those terrible policies [were] incredibly hurtful and didn’t accomplish anything affirmative,” Muñoz said. She believes a standalone DREAM Act might pass, and that Biden would be open to passing it. Scrollstack
FAIR’s Long History of Targeting the Census
The Federation for American Immigration Reform led a 40-year bid to implement changes to the Census that former President Donald Trump eventually adopted, files obtained by NPR reveal. FAIR, an influential advocate for extreme restrictions on immigration, launched a campaign in 1979 to obtain an official count of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. through the census in order to radically reshape Congress, the Electoral College and public policy. FAIR’s President Dan Stein told NPR that it’s always been on the organization’s agenda and that it may have discussed the changes with the Trump administration in November 2016. Excluding undocumented immigrants from the census would diminish the number of electoral college votes and Congressional representation of diverse places. NPR
