Biden plans early legislation to offer legal status to 11 million immigrants without it Author: Cindy Carcamo, Andrea Castillo, Molly O Toole, Los Angeles Times Updated: January 16 Published January 16
In this June 18, 2020, photo, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students celebrate in front of the Supreme Court after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump s effort to end legal protections for young immigrants. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Print article During his first days in office, President-elect Joe Biden plans to send a groundbreaking legislative package to Congress to address the long-elusive goal of immigration reform, including what’s certain to be a controversial centerpiece: a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million immigrants who are in the county without legal status, according to immigrant rights activists in communication with the Biden-Harris transition team.
The Biden administration can jump-start a series of necessary reforms by issuing a clear and expansive executive order in its first days that condemns the damage caused to the immigration system by the past administration, pauses deportations, and outlines principles to guide policy development over the next four years.
When Flavio first heard about a temporary farm work program in the United States, it sounded like a great deal. Everything from his salary to his housing would be guaranteed in advance by his employer, who would also sponsor his visa. He forked over more than $1,000 to a recruiter in Mexico and was approved in April for an H-2A agricultural visa through a farm labor contractor. These contractors, a small but fast-growing part of the legal migrant worker system, hire laborers directly and then pair them with farmers. They are also notorious for human trafficking, and many have a background in cross-border smuggling, according to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. Several weeks after his visa was approved, Flavio boarded a bus, chartered by the contractor, that would take him from his hometown in Hidalgo to the farm in North Carolina.