DACA participants, farmworkers would benefit from House bills

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The House of Representatives on Thursday passed two bills that would create paths to citizenship or legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants.

House Resolution 6, the Dream and Promise Act and H.R. 1603 the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021 were passed largely along partisan lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.

The Dream and Promise Act establishes a process for eligible DACA, Temporary Protected States Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients with a pathway to lawful permanent resident (LPR) and eventually citizenhip. This has the potential to provide immigration relief for over 2.5 million individuals, including over 120,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander immigrants. Dreamers and nearly 15,000 TPS recipients from Nepal.

"In every generation, America has been enriched and strengthened by wave after wave of new immigrants," said President Biden Thursday. "Dreamers and TPS holders, for whom the United States is home, are part of our national fabric, and make vital contributions to communities across the country every day. Many have worked tirelessly on the frontlines throughout this pandemic to keep our country afloat, fed, and healthy—yet they are forced to live with fear and uncertainty because of their immigration status."

The Farm Workforce Protection Act establishes a Certified Agricultural Worker status for 1.7 million agricultural workers in the United States (and their spouses and minor children) to earn a temporary legal status through continued agricultural employment. It also reforms the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program to provide more flexibility for employers, while ensuring critical protections for workers, including heat stress protections.

"Farmworkers are vital to the wellbeing of our country and our economy. For generations, America’s farmworkers – many of whom are undocumented – have worked countless hours to feed our nation and ensure our communities are healthy and strong," said Biden.

"Farmworkers are some of the hardest working people in this country, but a lack of legal status leaves them vulnerable to exploitation. Those who work so that we can eat deserve to be rewarded with a path to citizenship," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA., who is a co-sponsor for both bills.

"Similarly for our Dreamers and TPS recipients, over 300,000 of whom are working in front-line jobs to keep our country running. These immigrants are staffing hospitals, grocery stores, and schools, and yet still face the threat of deportation and being separated from their families simply because of where they were born. 

"If you come to the US, contribute, lay roots, go to school or find a job, then you deserve to know you are safe in the country you have made home. That is the promise in these bills today and it is a promise I am proud to vote for,” said Chu.

The bills are not as sweeping as Biden’s immigration plan, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which would have created a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Democratic and Republican leaders have said in recent days that such a sweeping proposal would have virtually no chance of gaining bipartisan support.

The White House supported the two bills but urged Congress to continue to move forward with the Citizenship Act.