What is happening with the immigration plan?
For weeks, there have been intense efforts to reach a bipartisan consensus and pass a sort of 2023 Immigration Reform that would mean the legalization of more than 2 million dreamers living in the country.
The senators in charge of these moves in government were targeted by Democrat Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona), and Republican Thomas Tillis (North Carolina). Both were able to mobilize many officials belonging to both the Republican and Democratic parties, and even managed to create the utopia of a bipartisan agreement that seemed increasingly possible.
Unfortunately, in the last few days, the government’s immigration plan quickly fell apart. There were many disagreements about the security that should be implemented at the border, about the end of Title 42 that will prevent immigrants from seeking asylum after December 21, and, especially, the fact that the failure of the immigration plan is again due to the lack of consensus between parties. Republicans are still reluctant to include the new proposals in the 2023 budget discussions, putting a final crimp in Sinema and Tillis’ immigration plan.
What is going wrong within the government? Why is there no agreement between the parties? What will happen now with the dreamers? At Jaskot Law, our attorneys will try to provide answers to these questions.
The Democratic Party’s frustrated plan
The immigration plan consisted of increasing border security, continuing to build a border wall, investing in resources and manpower for ICE patrol, adding more agents to speed up asylum processing, improving the way asylum seekers are processed, speeding up deportations, and perhaps more positive measures for the community, such as facilitating the citizenship and naturalization process for Dreamers.
All of this was aimed at finding common ground between Democrats and Republicans to get the plan passed, and ease congestion at the southern border. The failure to implement it by the next fiscal year 2023 is due to many factors.
- On the one hand, the lack of Republican support, the discontent within both parties, and the limited budget they were willing to give up to carry out the plan.
- On the other hand, a decisive factor was the short time the initiative had to be defined before the end of the session established for this year, and before the change of officials within the congress.
In addition, the change of Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who on December 9 announced that she would stop being a member of the Democratic Party, but an independent official instead, was not minor. Her decision strongly affected the party, which had managed to obtain a majority in Congress.
What about Immigration Reform? What about the Dreamers?
The immigration plan included a pathway for the 2 million Dreamers currently living in the country who have certain requirements and documentation to apply for citizenship. This would mean the great relief they have been waiting for years, to lose the fear of deportation, and finally have a legal status in the country that has welcomed them since they were children.
Despite the failure of the immigration plan, the community is not giving up hope for another path to U.S. citizenship. Activists and protesters will continue to fight for another initiative in Congress tirelessly, and this bump in the road is just one more obstacle.
At Jaskot Law, we support the Dreamers’ fight, and we contribute to the community with our experienced and professional legal assistance. Our team of immigration attorneys will work tirelessly to adjust the immigration status of anyone who comes through our office.
