American Dream and Promise Act - H.R.6

The House passed and sent to the Senate on Tuesday a bill that would grant permanent citizenship to up to 2.5 million undocumented immigrants, signaling a win for House Democrats on one of their campaign planks ahead of the 2020 presidential elections.

The bill (HR 6), known as the American Dream and Promise Act, passed 237-187, mostly along party lines. Seven Republicans, however, supported it, including Will Hurd of Texas, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey and Fred Upton of Michigan.

“Today's vote is a major milestone for these immigrants and their families,” Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., sponsor of the bill, said on the House floor.

Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had committed to bringing the legislation to the floor when Democrats took back the chamber. 

"Today, she fulfilled that commitment. This legislation will allow Dreamers to live in peace and continue contributing to our great nation without fear of deportation. I am very proud to have helped make this happen," Correa said.

The legislation would provide legal status and a path to citizenship for undocumented adults who were brought to the United States as children by their undocumented parents, and who are colloquially known as Dreamers. It also grants legal status to people living in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure programs.  

Under the measure, if Dreamers, TPS and DED holders meet certain education, employment or military service requirements they could become permanent legal residents after which they could proceed through the naturalization process to become U.S. citizens.

Republicans assailed the bill, stating it would encourage more migrants to come to the U.S.-Mexico border, which is experiencing a huge influx of people from Central America.

“This bill goes way beyond DACA, it's like DACA on steroids because it will allow millions of more people in — people that could be gang members,” Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., said Tuesday, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the legal name for the Dreamers program. “It does nothing to remedy the crisis at the southern border and in fact I believe it would make it worse.”

The DACA, TPS and DED programs only apply to people who currently live in the United States; they do not apply to asylum seekers crossing the border now.

Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., pointed out on the House floor that gang members are not eligible under the bill: "I may be new to Washington, but apparently I've learned something the other side of the aisle has not, which is: how to read a bill. If you go to page 21, you will learn that gang members are not eligible for HR 6." 

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., also said the bill does nothing to address the current crisis at the border.

"This legislation was not a serious attempt to address the ongoing humanitarian and national security crisis at the border," Cheney said. "Rather than put forward meaningful solutions to secure the border and protect American families, House Democrats opted to pursue mass amnesty for millions — including gang members and other criminals."

The monthly border apprehension numbers for March and April surpassed 100,000 people and Customs and Border Protection said it expects the number to keep rising. 

The Trump administration issued a statement earlier Tuesday threatening to veto the bill if it advances out of the Senate.

“H.R. 6 would incentivize and reward illegal immigration while ignoring and undermining key administration immigration objectives and policy priorities, such as protecting our communities and defending our borders,” the Office of Budget and Management said in a statement.

###

H.R. 6 Bill Sumary

The Democratic bill grants legal status and a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children (so-called Dreamers) and similarly provides a path to citizenship for individuals from nations who are in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) protections. Under the measure, Dreamers who entered the U.S. before age 18 at least four years prior to enactment generally would be granted conditional legal permanent residency for 10 years — and if they meet certain education, employment or military service requirements could become permanent legal residents (i.e., obtain a "green card") after which they could proceed through the naturalization process to become U.S. citizens.

    CBO estimates the bill would provide lawful immigration status to two million Dreamers and half a million TPS/DED individuals, and increase deficits by more than $30 billion.

    The White House strongly opposes the bill as a stand-alone measure and vows a veto, saying any immigration legislation needs to address a multitude of other issues to fix "real underlying problems and improve our immigration system."

Section I

Background & Summary

    The last major modifications to U.S. immigration policy occurred in 1986 and 1990, with enactment of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act under President Ronald Reagan (which required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, legalized certain seasonal agricultural immigrants, and granted illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. before 1982 legal status if they met certain conditions and paid a fine and back taxes), and the 1990 Immigration Act under President George H.W. Bush (which increased legal immigration to the U.S., providing for family-based immigration visas, five different employment visas, and the diversity visa program).

    More recent presidents have also sought major changes to U.S. immigration policy, along with efforts to better secure the border against illegal immigration, with efforts by presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama faltering largely because of deep philosophical differences over how to address the millions of undocumented immigrants currently in the nation. In particular, most Republicans view any attempt to grant new status to any group of undocumented immigrants as amnesty and insist that border security must occur first, while most Democrats argue that immigration law should humanely and realistically respond to the existence of undocumented immigrants without sacrificing safety or the rule of law.

    In 2006, however, Congress did enact legislation (PL 109-367) authorizing the construction of 700 miles of fencing along the southwestern border with Mexico, as well as a “virtual fence” of cameras, sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles and other surveillance technology along the entire U.S.-Mexican border.

Dreamers / DACA

    Since about 2000, there have been numerous efforts, including as part of comprehensive immigration overhaul proposals, to address the situation of so-called Dreamers — children who were illegally brought to the United States by their parents and who are therefore in this nation through no fault of their own, and for many who have known only the United States as their home.

    In late 2010 after the November elections, the Democratic-controlled House passed Dream Act legislation to grant those children legal status with a potential path to citizenship if they met certain qualifications, but no action was taken by the Senate. After that failure and with no legislative action taken in 2011, President Obama in June 2012 through executive actions created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, under which certain undocumented immigrants who were children under the age of 16 when they were brought to the United States by their parents before June 15, 2007, and who have lived in the United States since that time, are offered temporary protection from deportation.

    Administered by the Homeland Security Department's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DACA allows eligible immigrants to request deferred action for two years, subject to renewal, and authorizes them to work in the United States. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) notes that DACA recipients are not granted a lawful immigration status and are not put on a pathway to a lawful immigration status, but are considered to be lawfully present in the United States.

    Undocumented immigrants can request DACA status only if they are at least 15 years old, but they must have been younger than 31 as of June 15, 2012. They also must currently be in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or be an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or U.S. military. They also must have clean legal records (i.e., not been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors) and must not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.

President Trump Suspension of Program

    Although President Trump has said he wants to develop a solution for Dreamers, he moved to suspend the program in September 2017, citing the fact that DACA was established administratively rather than through legislation. Trump gave Congress six months to develop and enact a permanent solution — but federal court orders have to date required the government to continue the program, with USCIS renewing protections for existing DACA recipients but not enrolling anyone new into the program. (Earlier in 2017 in response to federal court decisions, Homeland Security rescinded an Obama administration expansion of DACA and an associated program for undocumented parents of children who are U.S. citizens.)

    Immigration has been a cornerstone of President Trump's domestic agenda, with the president during the 2016 campaign promising to significantly bolster domestic immigration enforcement and to close the U.S. border to illegal immigration, including by building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And in suspending DACA in 2017 he sought to use that issue as leverage to enact much of his immigration policy.

    In 2018, both the House and Senate considered a number of legislative proposals affecting Dreamers, with none passing either chamber. In early February 2018 the Senate considered several plans — including a bipartisan proposal the administration aggressively opposed that would have provided a path to citizenship for Dreamers along with $25 billion for the president's border wall — but none received the necessary 60 votes.

    The House, meanwhile, in June considered a pair of GOP proposals that would protect DACA recipients from deportation by granting them renewable legal status, but both failed to achieve a simple majority; the "compromise" measure negotiated between GOP moderates and conservatives would have also allowed those individuals to apply for a new, merit-based green card through which they could eventually become U.S. citizens, as long as full funding for the border wall was provided.

    In seeking the majority in last year's congressional elections, Democrats promised to pass legislation to protect Dreamers. It is estimated that almost 800,000 Dreamers have received protection under DACA out of 1.8 million nationwide who could be eligible under current DACA criteria.

TPS & DED

    In cases where immigrants in the United States cannot return to their country of origin due to civil unrest and violence, natural disasters, or other extraordinary reasons, current law allows the Homeland Security Department to declare temporary protected status (TPS) under which such individuals may legally remain in the United States.

    A country's citizens may be designated as eligible for TPS status for periods of 6 to 18 months, and those periods can be extended if the country continues to meet the conditions for designation. Congress may also provide TPS status to a specific country. Foreign nationals granted TPS receive a registration document and employment authorization for the duration of a given TPS designation.

    According to CRS, the United States currently provides TPS to approximately 417,000 foreign nationals from 10 countries: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Meanwhile, certain citizens from Liberia are protected from deportation under a similar administrative mechanism known as Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), which can be granted by the president when TPS status ends.

    In September 2017, the Trump Administration announced plans to terminate TPS protections for six countries — El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan — and to extend TPS for Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. And in March 2018, Trump announced an end to DED protections for Liberia. However, all those terminations are currently on hold pending legal challenges.

Executive Summary of HR 6

    The measure to be made in order for House floor consideration combines two bills reported by the Judiciary Committee, and the House Rules Committee has recommended a closed rule that when adopted will automatically modify the bill to make a technical correction.

    HR 6 grants legal status and a path to citizenship to certain undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children (so-called Dreamers), as long as certain conditions are met, and it similarly provides a path to legal permanent residency and eventual U.S. citizenship for individuals from nations who have been in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) protections.

    Under the measure, undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before age 18 at least four years prior to enactment, and who have remained in the U.S. since they entered, generally would be granted conditional legal permanent residency for 10 years — and it allows those individuals if they meet certain education, employment or military service requirements to become permanent legal residents (i.e., obtain a "green card") after which they could proceed through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen.

    Similarly, foreign nationals from countries designated with TPS or DED status as of Jan. 1, 2017, would be eligible to apply for green cards if they lived continuously in the U.S. for the three years prior to enactment, with applications due no later than three years after enactment. The 10 nations under TPS status as of Jan. 1, 2017, are as follows: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Liberia is the only nation with DED status as of that date.

    Under the measure, applicants would be considered to have remained physically present in the United States as long as they didn't leave for more than a 90-day period or for 180 days in aggregate. Travel authorized by the Homeland Security Department would be excluded.

CBO Cost Estimate

    As of press time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had not released a cost estimate for the combined bill as is expected to be considered by the House. However, it did release separate cost estimates for the two underlying bills that are combined in this measure, but noted that if the provisions of the two bills were enacted as a single measure the budgetary effects would be smaller than the sum of the two bills.

    CBO notes that for each of the two bills the primary budgetary impact occurs because when individuals become lawful permanent residents they also become eligible for federal benefits — including ACA health insurance subsidies and Medicaid and food stamp benefits — thereby effecting direct spending (therefore pay-as-you-go procedures apply). Both bills also effect revenues because the increase in the number of workers with employment authorization would affect payroll taxes and individual and corporate income taxes, while some newly authorized workers would become eligible for refundable tax credits (which are counted as spending). In addition, some of the fees established under the bill would be classified as revenues.

    For the Dreamer provisions, CBO estimates it would increase budget deficits by $26.3 billion over the 2020-2029 period, with direct spending increasing by $28.8 billion and net revenues increasing by $2.5 billion. (For deficits, on-budget deficits would increase by $31.0 billion and off-budget deficits decrease by $4.8 billion, while for revenues, on-budget revenues would decrease by $2.9 billion and off-budget revenues would increase by $5.5 billion.)

    For the TPS-DED provisions, CBO estimates it would increase budget deficits by $8.3 billion over the 2020-2029 period, with direct spending increasing by $8.8 billion and net revenues increasing by $510 million. (For deficits, on-budget deficits would increase by $7.9 billion and off-budget deficits would increase by $395 million, while for revenues, on-budget revenues would decrease by $440 million and off-budget revenues would increase by $950 million.)

Section II

Legal Status for Dreamers

    This section describes the provisions of HR 6, American Dream and Promise Act, which provide legal status to certain undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children as well as an eventual path to U.S. citizenship if they meet certain requirements.

    Under the measure, undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before age 18 at least four years prior to enactment and who have remained in the U.S. since they entered generally would be granted conditional legal permanent residency for 10 years, and it allows those individuals if they remain in the United States and meet certain education, employment or military service requirements to become permanent legal residents (i.e., obtain a "green card") — after which they could proceed through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen.

    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that these provisions would provide lawful immigration status and work authorization to more than 2 million people who otherwise would be physically present in the United States without such legal authority.

    CBO also notes that achieving lawful permanent resident status (including conditional status) makes individuals eligible for federal benefits — including ACA health insurance subsidies and Medicaid and food stamp benefits — provided an applicant meets a program's other eligibility requirements.

Conditional Permanent Residency

    The bill allows undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before the age of 18 at least four years prior to enactment and who have lived continuously in the U.S. since that time to apply for conditional permanent residency — and it requires the Homeland Security and Justice departments to grant such status and cancel removal status if the individual meets the bill's requirements.

    The measure states that for purposes of naturalization, an applicant granted conditional status is considered a lawful permanent resident — but can not apply for naturalization and U.S. citizenship.

    Such conditional permanent residency would be valid for a period of 10 years, during which time the individual would be eligible to apply for permanent legal status once they meet certain education, employment or military service requirements (see below). These mechanisms would also apply to individuals who are under temporary protected status (TPS) or deferred enforcement departure (DED) status.

Eligibility Requirements

    To be eligible, immigrants must be in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, or have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, and must have registered for the Military Select Service.

    They must not be inadmissable under current law with regard to certain elements of existing immigration law (such as health-related issues, student visa abuse, unlawful voting, alien smuggling, international child abduction, or polygamy), and must not be barred by current law on certain national security or criminal grounds.

    Applicants must submit to Homeland Security biometric and biographic information and pass a background check to determine whether there is any criminal, national security or other information that disqualifies the individual.

    They must have a relatively clean legal record (i.e., have not been convicted of a federal or state felony, three or more other federal or state misdemeanors, or domestic violence), and must not have "ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated" in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion. Under certain circumstances, the Homeland Security secretary would be authorized to waive certain misdemeanor criminal offenses for humanitarian purposes, family unity, or if it is otherwise in the public interest.

    The secretary must deny an application for conditional permanent residency status if there is clear and convincing evidence that the applicant poses a significant threat to public safety or has actively participated in a criminal gang (although identification in a gang database would not establish gang participation).

    Under the measure, an applicant would be considered to have remained physically present in the United States as long as he or she didn't leave for more than a 90-day period or for 180 days in aggregate. Travel authorized by the department would be excluded, and these provisions could be waived for extenuating circumstances.

Other Provisions

    The bill allows Homeland Security to charge a fee commensurate with the cost of processing an application for conditional permanent residency, up to a maximum of $495.

    The department also must establish a streamlined application procedure for individuals currently enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, although such individuals may not be charged a fee (unless they are applying directly for permanent legal residency, rather than conditional status).

    The measure allows the department to revoke conditional permanent residency status if the applicant engages in conduct that makes him or her ineligible for that status, provided that the department provides notice of the revocation to the individual as well as an opportunity for a hearing to contest the decision. If status is revoked, the individual would be returned to his or her previously held immigration status.

Permanent Residency

    The bill allows individuals with conditional permanent residency to apply for permanent residency status and obtain a green card — after which they could proceed through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen — but only if they meet certain education, employment or military service requirements and have continuously lived in the United States.

    Specifically, individuals must be approved for unconditional permanent residency status if they continued to reside in the United States during their time in conditional status, they continued to maintain a clean legal record (identical to the requirements for conditional status), and they received a degree from a U.S. institution of higher education, completed two years in good standing of a bachelor's degree program or a career and technical education program, served in the U.S. military for at least two years (and if discharged, were honorable discharged), or worked and earned income for at least three years or 75% of the time they were authorized to work. Individuals must also pass the English-language and civics tests required for naturalization purposes.

    The education, military or work requirements could be waived if the applicant can demonstrate compelling circumstances based on a disability, being a full-time caregiver, or the extreme hardship that would be imposed on family members who are legally in the U.S. if the individual was deported.

    A background check would again have to be conducted on the individual and completed before conditional status can be removed, and individuals must pay a reasonable fee for their application commensurate with the cost of processing.

    Individuals who meet the bill's requirements for permanent residency status at the time of their initial application for legal status would be allowed to forgo obtaining conditional status, and would only be required to pay one application fee and submit to a single background check.

Appeals & Other Provisions

Reviews of Denied Applications

    If an application is denied or status revoked, individuals may seek an administrative or judicial review. Applicants also could withdraw an application at any time "without prejudice."

    The department must provide two notices to the applicant of its intent to deny an application, which must be sent by certified mail and electronically (if requested). The applicant would have 90 days to respond. The department must establish procedures for administrative reviews.

    For a judicial review, an applicant must seek relief in a federal court within 60 days of their denial or revocation. Applicants would have the right to counsel paid for by the fees collected under the bill.

    Individuals seeking administrative or judicial review may not be deported until a final decision on his or her application is rendered, except if removed on national security grounds. If an individual is removed but prevails in his or her judicial review, they must be promptly returned to the United States.

Other Provisions

    The bill specifies that there is no numerical limitation on the number of people who may be granted permanent resident status under the bill, and it requires the Homeland Security Department to establish a competitive grant program (authorizing such sums as necessary through FY 2030) to finance nonprofit groups who will help eligible undocumented immigrants apply for conditional and permanent residency and meet the bill's requirements.

    It provides that an individual who has applied for conditional or permanent residency and who appears eligible may not be deported from the United States until a final decision is rendered. And for individuals who are removed before applying, they would be allowed to apply without having to petition the immigration court to reopen the decision (if an application is denied, however, the original removal order would remain in effect). In addition, it allows the secretary to waive the requirement that an individual continuously live in the United States if they had lived for four years in the U.S. and were otherwise eligible but were deported on or after Jan. 20, 2017 (the day President Trump was inaugurated into office), with those individuals allowed to apply from abroad.

    The Homeland Security Department would be prohibited from using or disclosing to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) any information provided by applicants — although it may share with federal security and law enforcement agencies information necessary for considering an application, for identifying or preventing fraud, for national security purposes, or for investigating felonies not related to immigration status.

    Individuals may be fined up to $10,000 for knowingly using, publishing, or permitting the examination of information by others in violation of the bill's provisions.

     Finally, the bill exempts from the bill's fee requirements applicants who are younger than 18 years old, who receive an income that is less than 150% of the poverty line, who are in foster care or lack family support, or who cannot care for themselves due to a serious, chronic disability.

Section III

TPS & DED Individuals

    This section describes the provisions of HR 6, American Dream and Promise Act, which allows individuals currently in the United States from nations under declared Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) status to become U.S. permanent legal residents with a path to citizenship if they meet certain requirements.

    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that these provision would provide lawful immigration status and work authorization to nearly half a million people who otherwise would be physically present in the United States without such legal authority.

    CBO also notes that achieving lawful permanent resident status (including conditional status) makes individuals eligible for federal benefits — including ACA health insurance subsidies and Medicaid and food stamp benefits — provided an applicant meets a program's other eligibility requirements.

Path to Citizenship

    Under the measure, the foreign nationals from countries designated with TPS or DED status as of Jan. 1, 2017, would be eligible to apply for permanent legal residency (i.e., obtain a "green card") if they lived continuously in the U.S. for the three years prior to enactment — and the Homeland Security and Justice departments must grant such status and cancel any removal status if the individual meets those and other requirements.

    Once individuals have a green card, they could proceed through the naturalization process to become a U.S. citizen.

    The 10 nations under TPS status as of Jan. 1, 2017, are as follows: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Liberia is the only nation with DED status as of that date.

    In addition to the U.S. residency requirement, TPS and DED individuals must not be inadmissable under current law with regard to certain elements of existing immigration law, such as health-related issues, student visa abuse, unlawful voting, alien smuggling, international child abduction, or polygamy. (Current law already states that to be eligible for TPS and DED, individuals not be convicted of any felony offense or any two misdemeanor offenses.)

    Applicants must submit to Homeland Security biometric and biographic information and pass a background check to determine whether there is any criminal, national security or other information that disqualifies the individual.

    Under the measure, an applicant would be considered to have remained physically present in the United States as long as he or she didn't leave for more than a 90-day period or for 180 days in aggregate. Travel authorized by the department would be excluded, and these provisions could be waived for extenuating circumstances.

    The bill allows Homeland Security to charge a reasonable fee for the cost of processing an application for permanent residency, up to a maximum of $1,140.

Appeals & Other Provisions

Review of Denied Application

    If an application is denied, the applicant may seek an administrative or judicial review of a application denial. The department must, within 30 days of enactment, establish the procedures for an administrative review.

    For a judicial review, an applicant must seek relief in a federal court within 60 days of their denial. Applicants would have the right to counsel paid for by the fees collected under the bill.

    Individuals seeking administrative or judicial review could not be deported until a final decision on his or her application is rendered, except if removed on national security grounds. If an individual is removed but prevails in his or her judicial review, they must be promptly returned to the United States.

     Applicants could withdraw an application at any time "without prejudice."

Other Provisions

    The bill specifies that there is no numerical limitation on the number of people who may be granted permanent resident status under the measure — although it requires that applications for permanent residency be made within three years of enactment.

    It provides that an individual who has applied for permanent residency and who appears eligible may not be deported from the United States until a final decision is rendered. And for individuals who are removed before applying, they would be allowed to apply without having to petition the immigration court to reopen the decision.

    The Homeland Security Department would be prohibited from using or disclosing to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) any information provided by applicants — although it may share with federal security and law enforcement agencies information necessary for considering an application, for identifying or preventing fraud, for national security purposes, or for investigating felonies not related to immigration status.

    Individuals may be fined up to $10,000 for knowingly using, publishing, or permitting the examination of information by others in violation of the bill's provisions.

     Finally, the bill exempts from the bill's fee requirements applicants who are younger than 18 years old, who receive an income that is less than 150% of the poverty line, who are in foster care or lack family support, or who cannot care for themselves due to a serious, chronic disability. And it requires the Homeland Security Department to establish a competitive grant program (authorizing such sums as necessary through FY 2030) to finance nonprofit groups who will help eligible TPS and DED immigrants apply for permanent residency and meet the bill's requirements.

Section IV

Arguments For and Against the Bill

    This section summarizes the arguments being made by supporters and opponents of HR 6, American Dream and Promise Act.

Arguments FOR the Bill

    Supporters of the bill argue the measure is about efficacy, fairness, and human decency for people who have lived in the United States since they were children, built lives here, know no other home, and ultimately, had little say in them coming here in the first place.

    These "Dreamers" (the term used to refer to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and have embraced this country as their own) have been forced to confront the consequences of their undocumented status — a status that was conferred upon them by others. Many of these individuals know no other home but the United States, speak only English, and have most of their family and social connections here. Yet, they often are unable to work legally, travel abroad, obtain driver's licenses, or obtain federal financial assistance for post-secondary education. Moreover, if brought to the attention of immigration authorities, they can be removed to countries that they barely remember and to which they have little or no personal connection. Is that really the American way?

    Removing Dreamers can have negative consequences not on their lives, but for their communities and their families as well. The removal of a Dreamer can deeply affect classmates, teachers, clergy, and friends who have watched them grow up. Employers of Dreamers are also affected, as they lose access to key members of their workforce. Since our current immigration system provides no realistic means for most Dreamers to regularize their immigration status, legislation like this bill is necessary on many levels, including for the economy.

    Studies consistently show that the economy will benefit from providing undocumented youth with a legal means to earn lawful status by bringing these immigrants — who are already here — out of the shadows. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are already employed in a wide variety of industries, including hospitality, food service, education, and health care. A path to lawful status will empower these individuals to seek and obtain better paying jobs, resulting in both increased tax revenues at the federal, state and local levels, and expanded economic activity through increased purchases of homes, automobiles and other goods.

    The Center for American Progress (CAP) estimates that at least $23 billion per year will be added to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if the bill is passed. The group estimates that the federal government will see $2 billion to $3.3 billion per year in increased federal tax revenues. Many in corporate America also support efforts to extend DACA, with more than 100 CEOs sending a letter to House and Senate offices warning of the significant losses their industries face if DACA is terminated, noting that failure to extend these protections will "lead to businesses losing valuable talent, cause disruptions in the workforce, and . . . result in significant costs."

    Besides extending DACA, the bill provides important protection for individuals who were in the United States when President Trump unilaterally cancelled Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) protections for more than 300,000 people. At the time, the administration ignored warnings from senior U.S. diplomats that termination would destabilize Central America and the Caribbean. Of course, that is exactly what has happened, as a new surge of unauthorized immigration has swamped our southern border today. According to CAP, TPS recipients have lived in the United States for an average of 19 years, are employed at high rates, and have family relationships in the United States that include nearly 275,000 U.S. citizen children. In addition, according to the American Immigration Council, losing TPS workers would result in a $4.5 billion loss to GDP annually and would cost Social Security and Medicare $6.9 billion each year. Is that being morally and fiscally responsible?

    Ending humanitarian immigration efforts for these immigrants will destabilize the economy and local communities by removing a long-term and reliable workforce from key industries. It will tear apart families and worsen a growing humanitarian crisis. Passing the bill is a win-win proposition — for the Dreamers, for employers, for the economy, for communities, and most of all, for the nation as a whole.

Arguments AGAINST the Bill

    Opponents of the bill argue that it amounts to little more than a political stunt and that Congress should instead be considering legislation to address the growing crisis at the southern border.

    These so-called Dreamers began their time in the United States by breaking U.S. immigration laws by crossing into the U.S. illegally. Instead of penalizing them, this bill rewards such behavior with a special path to citizenship. In fact, this bill is even more expansive than President Obama's original DACA order by covering any individual who entered the U.S. under the age of 18 — not 16 as with Obama — and who is present in the U.S. for four years prior to the date of enactment. This expansion will confer "green card" status to the unaccompanied alien children who entered the United States during the surges of 2013 and 2014 who were likely incentivize to enter illegally in the first place because of DACA. And since there is no age limit in the measure (Obama's order required petitioners to be present on June 15, 2012) an alien who entered the U.S. illegally 30 or 40 years ago could be granted a green card. Wasn't the whole point of the bill to protect children?

    Our country is witnessing a security and humanitarian crisis on the southern border, as each successive month we are seeing unprecedented numbers of family units and unaccompanied alien children encountered by Customs and Border Protection personnel. Yet not only are Democrats doing nothing to stop it, they have brought us a bill that will likely lead to more families trying to take advantage of a broken system. The sheer volume of people coming is overwhelming the border infrastructure, and the bill fails to provide border personnel with the resources needed to respond or take appropriate action against these law breakers. In fact, it does nothing to address the root causes of the legal loopholes in U.S. immigration law that act as pull factors and have created a de facto system of catch-and-release.

    Even worse, the bill provides a legal loophole for those convicted of certain crimes to get on a fast track to obtaining a green card. For example, an alien convicted of only one or two misdemeanor firearms offenses would be eligible for benefits under the bill since current immigration law contains no inadmissibility grounds premised on a firearms conviction. In addition, the bill's narrower definition of gang member could result in gang members receiving green cards. Do we really want more —13 members roaming our streets?

    The amnesty provided by the measure will only incentivize further illegal immigration and is sure to exacerbate the crisis on the border. It places the interests of those who violated U.S. immigration laws above the interests of those who waited, or have been waiting, in many cases for years, to enter this country legally. The measure also provides a green card to some individuals who were supposed to be granted "temporary" status. TPS is usually initially designated for a period of only 18 months and then redesignated in 18-month increments. Yet this bill tramples on the rule of law by taking what were to be temporary protective measures and placing the recipients of those measures, as well as those who never even applied for TPS, on a path to U.S. citizenship. Under the bill, nationals of countries whose TPS designations are less than four years old will be granted green cards. It even provides green cards to those who were eligible for TPS or DED, but who have already left the United States. In addition, the bill is likely to lead to more fraud by allowing categories of low-reliability evidence to be submitted in support of an application, including mere affidavits to establish continuous physical presence.

     Taken together, this bill completely misses the mark on what is needed for a properly functioning immigration system that no longer incentivizes illegal behavior and will provide the resources and additional enforcement personnel that are so desperately needed to protect our souther border. Make no mistake. The bill is simply the first step in Democratic efforts to do away with borders, and as many Democrats have argued, do away with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other institutions that for all their problems, are the only thing standing between us and anarchy.