President Joe Biden is sending Congress a bill Wednesday after his inauguration that proposes a pathway to citizenship for 11 million people living illegally in the United States, as well as other sweeping changes in immigration policy, the Washington Examiner reported.
Biden's transition team announced on Wednesday morning that the bill would devise a new system "to responsibly manage and secure our border, keep our families and communities safe, and better manage migration across the Hemisphere."
The bill also centers on boosting labor protections for workers and enacting "smart" border controls.
The legislation would also attempt to deal with the underlying reasons for millions of Central Americans fleeing to the U.S. in the past decade by providing $4 billion over four years in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to help those nations address their problems that spur its citizens to leave, according to NPR.
Under the proposal, illegal immigrants can apply for temporary legal status, which would mean they could legally live and work in the U.S. and then could apply for a green card after five years, the Examiner reported.
In order to receive a green card, applicants must have a background and criminal check and have paid taxes. Those immigrants who are already within a legal framework that protect them from deportation, such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, won’t have to wait five years to apply for a green card.
NPR pointed out that the Biden administration is under pressure from immigration activists to tackle the issue quickly unlike the Obama administration, which emphasized priorities other than immigration reform early in its first term, when Democrats held the majority in both the House and Senate.