House to vote on immigration bills as humanitarian crisis mounts at the border

WASHINGTON — The House will vote Thursday on a pair of immigration bills that would create a pathway to citizenship for millions of “Dreamers” and overhaul protections for farmworkers.

The first bill, dubbed the American Dream and Promise Act, would provide a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, as well as others granted temporary protection from deportation.

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Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., one of the sponsors of the bill, said in a statement, “For far too long, Dreamers and others have waited in limbo and lived with the fear of being deported from the only country they know as home.”

“Dreamers were brought to this country as children,” she continued. “Many are unaware that they are undocumented until they apply for college, and many more have felt the need to keep their status a secret out of fear of deportation.

House Democrats previously passed the bill with seven Republicans voting in favor of the measure, but it was not taken up by the Senate then controlled by the GOP.

The other bill getting a vote Thursday, titled the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, would create a system for undocumented workers to apply for legal status and allow farmworkers to receive a green card if they pay a fine and work an additional four to eight years in agriculture. The measure would also overhaul the temporary agricultural worker program, which allows U.S. employers who meet certain regulatory requirements to bring foreign workers into the country to fill such jobs.

The House also passed that bill in 2019, with 34 Republicans voting in favor, but it too was not taken up by the Senate.

At an event promoting the legislation ahead of the vote, Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said it was important to make the proposed changes, especially given how the immigrant communities were both contributing to fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and being disproportionately hurt by it.

“Dreamers are doctors, nurses, lab technicians, contact tracers and job creators,” he said. “Farmworkers are getting infected and dying from Covid at a much higher rate than the general public. They are literally dying to feed you, give you the nutrients you need to heal from Covid.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at the event, “We are making a very big difference in how we respect the beautiful diversity of America, how we respect the fact that immigration is the constant reinvigoration of America.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who sponsored the farmworkers bill with Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., added that the U.S. food supply has remained stable during the pandemic “thanks to the farmers of America, but also the farmworkers of America, most of whom are undocumented and most of whom have been here more than 10 years. They live in a period of uncertainty and we decided we should do something about it.”

Newhouse, a farmer himself, said in a statement, “I understand the invaluable contributions our producers and farmworkers make to our nation’s unparalleled agriculture industry.”

“Bringing our agriculture labor program into the 21st century is absolutely critical as we work to recover from the impacts of the pandemic and ensure a stable food supply chain in the United States,” he continued. “We must act now to provide certainty to farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers across the country.”

Thursday’s action on the bills comes as the Biden administration grapples with a significant surge of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, including thousands of unaccompanied children. The legislation doesn’t address that situation, which Republicans are calling a crisis, but the two bills are a longtime Democratic priority.

House Democrats, meanwhile, are not ready to vote on their more comprehensive immigration bill, called the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which would provide an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. by Jan. 1. The bill would also lift hurdles for workers to legally immigrate to the U.S.