Republicans want immigration law to grant citizenship only to 'dreamers'.

Two Republican senators have asked the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the Democrat, Dick Durbin (Illinois), to consider new legislation that only benefits Dreamers covered by Deferred Action (DACA), given that a more ambitious immigration reform is impossible to pass.

Durbin and Republicans John Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina) are part of a bipartisan group of senators that has analyzed legislation that addresses the situation of beneficiaries of DACA, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and the called DED (Deffered Enforced Departure) or “Deferred Mandatory Departure”.

In a letter sent to Durbin, Republicans recalled that the Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing to discuss the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021 (HR6), which “would provide a path to citizenship for some 4.4 million illegal immigrants".

"As you saw when the hearing was scheduled, there is no clear and politically viable path to move forward with that legislation in Congress," Cornyn said.

Cornyn and Tillis see it as impossible for the Senate to give the green light to HR6 , which was already approved by the House of Representatives last March , despite the fact that Durbin recently said that he already had "five or six" of the ten Republican votes that they are needed in the Upper House.

Faced with this bleak outlook, Republicans asked Durbin to schedule a hearing "to consider legislation that offers permanent legal status only to currently enrolled, and active participants," in DACA.

Since his inauguration as president Joe Biden has promised a comprehensive reform of the immigration system, but has had to deal with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants to the southern border, and with the tie in the Senate between Democrats and Republicans.

Instead of such reform, which would include a path to citizenship for around 11 million undocumented immigrants, lawmakers have first pushed the possibilities for laws that serve different groups of migrants.

Thus, on Tuesday, Durbin urged the Senate to pass the Agricultural Workforce Modernization Bill (HR 1603), which would open the way to legal permanent residence for hundreds of thousands of undocumented agricultural workers.

"This legislation would fundamentally change the lives of hundreds of thousands of these workers who came to help us during the darkest days of the pandemic, and who continued to work despite the threat of covid-19," said Durbin.

But Cornyn and Tillich, in their letter, asked the Illinois senator to focus on the "dreamers," given the "legally flimsy foundations" of Deferred Action, which makes, in their view, urgent to promote a "solution for the dreamers." currently enrolled DACA recipients ”.

Republican senators mention that federal judge Andrew Hanen is still expected to issue his ruling on a lawsuit against DACA led by Texas and eight other Republican states, which consider the program unconstitutional and that former President Barack Obama exceeded his executive powers. when he established it in 2012.