DELAND, Florida — On March 18, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Dream and Promise Act as well as the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. The passing of these immigration bills marks the first steps toward sweeping immigration reform promised by President Biden during his campaign. The immigration bills have received an outpour of praise from immigration activists who have all this while been fighting for the rights and protections of immigrants.
The American Dream and Promise Act
The American Dream and Promise Act is one of the immigration bills that introduces new paths to citizenship for undocumented minors, otherwise known as Dreamers. If the bill is made a law, it has the potential to put millions of Dreamers and other undocumented immigrants on a path to legal residency and citizenship. The bill also introduces paths to legal residency for immigrants left out of previous Dreamer legislation as well as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients who were deported under the previous administration.
Under the American Dream and Promise Act, Dreamers can qualify for lawful permanent residency (LPR) if they achieve at least one of three requirements:
- Earn a degree from a U.S. institution of higher education, successfully complete at least two years of a bachelor’s program or complete technical training in a post-secondary education setting.
- Successfully complete at least two years of military service. If discharged, the discharge must be honorable.
- Be employed for at least three years with 75% of the employment time being legally authorized.
The bill not only offers new opportunities to obtain LPR but also makes it easier for Dreamers to qualify. If passed into law, Dreamers will be able to apply for federal financial aid. The bill will also repeal a section of the law that penalizes states who grant undocumented students in-state tuition.
Other Opportunities for LPR
The American Dream and Promise Act also introduces opportunities for LPR for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). Persons with TPS or DED status will be eligible for LPR if they:
- Have been in the U.S. for three years prior to the passing of the Act, and
- Were eligible for or had TPS on September 17, 2017, or had DED status as of January 20, 2021.
The Act would also make the Secretary of Homeland Security provide extensive evidence before terminating an immigrant’s temporary status, including qualitative and quantitative analysis on the state of the country the immigrant came from, which would indicate whether it would be safe for an immigrant to return.
The American Dream and Promise Act opens doors for undocumented children who have never known any other home but the U.S. The Act decreases the number of illegal residents in the United States, keeps immigrant families together and helps eliminate the fear of deportation that undocumented children live with every day.
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act
An estimated 1.2 million immigrants currently work illegally in the U.S. agriculture sector. Despite making up nearly half of the entire workforce, these immigrants live in daily fear of being deported, forced to leave their homes and families. With the House’s recent passing of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, immigrant farmworkers are one step closer to living a life free of fear.
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act creates new paths to legal residency for immigrant agriculture workers as well as reformations to the current H-2A temporary agricultural worker program. Under this bill, agricultural workers working illegally will be able to obtain a temporary Certified Agricultural Worker (CAW) status for those who have worked at least 180 days in agriculture over the last two years. Applicants and their family members must pass extensive criminal and background checks.
CAW status can be indefinitely renewed as long as the worker is working at least 100 days a year. Immigrants who have worked in agriculture for extended periods of time may qualify for green card status under new conditions set by the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. The requirements are:
- Pay a fine of $1,000.
- Workers with 10 years of prior agricultural work experience must complete an additional four years of agricultural work.
- Workers with less than 10 years of work experience must complete eight more years of work to qualify.
The Act also works to reform the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program by making improvements to employer restrictions and strengthening worker protections. Under the bill, workers will receive better compensation, work visas will be extended to three years to cut down on the cost of visa processing for workers, mid-contract wage changes will be eliminated and employers will be able to advertise job openings on online job listings.
Reforming Immigration
The passing of these two immigration bills is a positive step toward immigration reform and acknowledging the immeasurable contributions immigrants have made to the U.S. Immigrants have worked in the backbone industries of the United States for generations and these bills signify a tremendous leap toward giving them the recognition and safety they need.
– Kendall Couture
Photo: Flickr