Did you arrive in the US before January 1, 2021?

 “Our immigration policy should be based in compassion and a desire to help the other.”

—Ilhan Omar

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

HERE’S “good” news for those who arrived in the United States before January 1, 2021 and have lost their legal status after overstaying their temporary visitor’s visa.

The date is so important because so many of our non-immigrant friends who left the U.S. before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hullabaloo and intended to go back but failed because of the pandemic-induced restrictions and travel bans last year, have been burning the lines trying to get the latest updates from us here in New York City on the Biden administration’s much-publicized “amnesty” program for undocumented immigrants.

The “magic” date turns out to be January 1, 2021 in as far as who can be qualified and who can not is concerned.

The latest is that Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill crafted around the priorities President Joseph Biden articulated on his first day in office, including a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US, including Filipinos known as “TNT” (Tago Ng Tago).

The centerpiece of the bill is reportedly a provision that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status and, eventually, citizenship.

The process would take at least eight years. To qualify, immigrants would have had to be physically present in the US on or before January 1, 2021, unless granted a waiver on humanitarian grounds.

 

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Known as the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the long-anticipated bill, presented on February 18, would mark the most sweeping reform of the US immigration system since 1986, if passed.

It would also be a rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s nativist agenda.

The centerpiece of the bill is an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US prior to January 1, 2021. 

It also includes provisions that would address the underlying causes of migration, expand the number of available visas and green cards, invest in technology and infrastructure at ports of entry on the border, remove obstacles to asylum, and shore up protections for immigrant workers.

Nicole Narea, who broke the news for Vox, disclosed that 

“noticeably absent from the bill are provisions that would promote the kind of border security and interior enforcement measures that Republicans have long sought.”

“For example,” Narea  explained, “previous Republican proposals would have boosted funding for the construction of the border wall, made it a crime to be present in the US without authorization, and required children to be indefinitely detained together with their parents while they faced deportation proceedings.”

Some Republicans have reportedly warned the bill would “return to the radical left-wing policies that will incentivize illegal immigration and promote an unending flood of foreign nationals into the United States.”

“But Democrats have so far been reluctant to say they are willing to bargain with Republicans on beefing up border security beyond modernizing ports of entry or narrowing the bill’s legalization provisions,” Narea emphasized.

Initially, immigrants would be able to obtain a work permit and travel abroad with the assurance that they would be permitted to reenter the US. 

 

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After five years, they could apply for a green card if they pass background checks and pay taxes. 

Immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and Temporary Protected Status, as well as farmworkers, would be able to apply for green cards immediately, however.

After holding their green card for three years and passing additional background checks, they could apply for US citizenship.

Narea explained further: “The impact of such legislation cannot be overestimated: It could potentially bring millions of people out of the shadows.”

Among other reforms to the legal immigration system, the bill notably includes a provision to prevent presidents from issuing categorial bans on immigration.

It would also reportedly remove barriers to family-based immigration, including lengthy visa backlogs and employment-based green cards, which have been relatively inaccessible for workers in lower-wage industries.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)