Biden Administration Unveils New Sweeping Immigration Reform Bill

The White House has unveiled a new sweeping immigration reform bill that will, among other things, allow for a quicker path to citizenship. This new bill would cut the time to acquire citizenship from 13 years to 8 with an exception for children and farmworkers who will directly receive green cards if they meet certain requirements. The bill would also alter official document terminology, replacing the word ‘alien’ with ‘noncitizen’. In addition to all this, the bill will also provide more funding to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to help with the backlog of asylum applications and counsel for ‘vulnerable individuals’ like children. That’s just scratching the surface of the bill, which is part of a larger effort by Congress to revise the country’s immigration system. But the legislation faces an uphill battle seeing as Congress is very divided right now and neither side has enough votes or support to move forward with their individual bills. Fortunately, Biden officials have signaled that the president is willing to work with all members of Congress to make it work.