BY JEAN GUERRERO, COLUMNIST OCT. 21, 2021 LATimes
When he was president, Donald Trump was above all an enemy of immigrants: a Mexican-bashing, Muslim-banning, border-wall-building mogul.
Now, Democrats have a chance to be immigrants’ champions. But nine months into the Biden administration, with control of both chambers of Congress, they have yet to protect millions of undocumented people who helped the nation survive the pandemic by harvesting our food, cleaning our hospitals and more.
President Biden promised to “aggressively advocate for legislation that creates a clear road map to legal status and citizenship” for 11 million, acknowledging them as an “essential” part of his “Build Back Better” plan. But his sweeping bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, went nowhere.
Since then, Democrats have twice tried to unilaterally add legalization to a huge social spending bill using a streamlined process known as budget reconciliation, which requires a simple majority vote. But Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, an unelected referee, rejected both attempts — deeming that the policy consequences outweigh the budget impacts. Democrats can disregard her nonbinding advice. They can even replace a parliamentarian, as Republicans have done.
Instead, Democrats are mulling over a third proposal for her review that would only grant immigrants parole — the right to remain temporarily in the country — rather than green cards, which would provide stability and freedom to cross borders. The parole plan would prolong limbo and second-class status for immigrants who have built their lives in this country.
“It’s just complicity at this point,” Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, author of “Children of the Land,” a memoir about growing up in fear of deportation, said of the Democrats’ lackluster performance. “It is not conferring validity to people’s presence. It’s continuing to relegate them to the margins.”
A new Global Strategic Group survey shows that 90% of Democrats and 75% of independents would be “upset” if Democrats fail to pass a path-to-citizenship proposal.
Some Democrats in the House aren’t giving up. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) have said they will vote down any budget reconciliation deal on the multitrillion infrastructure package that does not include “common-sense immigration reform.”
Instead, Democrats are mulling over a third proposal for her review that would only grant immigrants parole — the right to remain temporarily in the country — rather than green cards, which would provide stability and freedom to cross borders. The parole plan would prolong limbo and second-class status for immigrants who have built their lives in this country.
“It’s just complicity at this point,” Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, author of “Children of the Land,” a memoir about growing up in fear of deportation, said of the Democrats’ lackluster performance. “It is not conferring validity to people’s presence. It’s continuing to relegate them to the margins.”
A new Global Strategic Group survey shows that 90% of Democrats and 75% of independents would be “upset” if Democrats fail to pass a path-to-citizenship proposal.
Some Democrats in the House aren’t giving up. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) have said they will vote down any budget reconciliation deal on the multitrillion infrastructure package that does not include “common-sense immigration reform.”
