Democratic-controlled U.S. House to vote on citizenship path for 'Dreamers'

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is due to vote on two immigration bills that would provide a path to citizenship for millions living illegally in the United States, including farmworkers and younger immigrants known as “Dreamers.”

The bills are an effort to take targeted steps forward while congressional leaders discuss President Joe Biden’s comprehensive immigration plan, and initial procedural steps could come as early as Tuesday. Republicans are shifting their focus to attacking Biden over a new surge of arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said on Sunday the surge of migrant children arriving at the border was a “humanitarian crisis” aggravated by the “broken system” of restrictive immigration left behind by former President Donald Trump.

But Republicans have charged the influx is the result of Biden’s reversal of some hardline Trump policies, with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy labeling it the “Biden border crisis” during a trip to the border on Monday.

The first immigration bill expected in the House this week would offer an eventual path to citizenship to “Dreamers,” those immigrants living in the United States illegally after entering as children. It would also help recipients of temporary migration protections that allow immigrants from several disaster- or conflict-hit countries to live temporarily in the United States.

The measure, sponsored by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, could help make over 4.4 million people eligible for permanent U.S. residence, according to the Migration Policy Institute. It passed the House once already, in 2019, with 237 votes; seven of those were Republicans.