President Biden has announced draft legislation to be forwarded to congress to begin to normalize the lives of tens millions of people living in the US that today do not have a lawful immigration status to live and work in the United States.

The bill would allow undocumented immigrants who were in the United States before Jan. 1 to apply for temporary legal status after passing background checks and paying taxes. As newly minted “lawful prospective immigrants,” they would be authorized to work, join the military and travel without fear of deportation. After five years, they could apply for green cards.

Converting more than three times that many people into full citizens could open the door to one of the most significant demographic shifts in modern U.S. history, lifting millions out of the shadows and potentially into higher-paying jobs, providing them with welfare benefits, health coverage and Social Security eligibility while eventually creating many new voters.

In the past immigration reform has stalled in Congress time and again, primarily over what is widely known as amnesty. Despite beefed-up border enforcement and employer sanctions, Mr. Reagan’s overhaul failed to curb the arrival of unauthorized immigrants.

While Congress has wrestled with how to revamp the immigration system, the immigrants have continued to live, work and raise families in the United States. More than 60 percent have resided in the country for more than a decade and they have more than four million U.S.-born children. They account for 5 percent of the work force, representing the backbone of the agriculture, construction and hospitality sectors.

The largest share of unauthorized immigrants is from Mexico. Having survived treacherous river and desert crossings to reach the United States, they found a nation willing to look past laws that prohibit hiring them, to employ them in fields and factories, and in homes as nannies and housekeepers.

Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both championed comprehensive immigration reform with a strong enforcement component and a pathway to legalization for undocumented people. But the immigration packages that were debated in Congress — in 2006, 2007 and 2013 — all stalled.

Among the concerns raised by opponents are that new citizens will vote as a solid Democratic bloc, displace American workers and become a burden on the health care system and other public services. Some predict that any legalization program would encourage more people from impoverished Latin American countries to make the trek north.

Other experts argue there are benefits of legalization. Opening a pathway to citizenship for nearly 11 million people, seven to eight million of whom participate in the labor force, is tantamount to “an economic stimulus,” according to Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis.

Between 2005 and 2015, new immigrants accounted for nearly half of the growth in the working-age population, and in the next two decades, immigrants will be key to offsetting an aging population that is retiring. Demographers say the increased educational attainment of Americans coupled with a shortage of blue-collar workers highlights the need for immigrants, in ever larger numbers, to perform low-skilled jobs. About five million of them work in jobs designated as “essential” by the government.

Among the biggest backers of the Biden initiative are employers who rely on immigrants. Through the years, meatpacking plants, dairy farms and a multitude of other worksites have been caught up in immigration raids targeting unauthorized workers.

It's morning again in America. The slate is wiped clean. It's time to reclaim the mantle as the shining city on the hill. 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
 

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Reverse the travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries

Trump kicked off his presidency signing a hastily put-together executive order restricting entry into the US from predominantly Muslim countries. Biden moved to repeal those bans.

He will also instruct the State Department to restart visa processing for affected countries and will call for a review of other Trump administration "extreme vetting" practices.

Biden's immigration bill includes a provision that would limit presidential authority to issue future bans.

Preserve DACA

The Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation, has been in limbo since President Donald Trump tried to terminate the program in 2017.

While the Supreme Court blocked Trump's attempt to end DACA, his administration continued to try to limit the program.

Biden signed a presidential memorandum directing the Homeland Security secretary, in consultation with the attorney general, to take actions preserving the program. Biden's proposed immigration legislation will include an immediate pathway to citizenship for beneficiaries of the program.

Extend relief for Liberians

Biden signed presidential memorandum extending Deferred Enforced Departure -- a form of relief for people from countries facing unrest or natural disasters -- until June 30, 2022, for Liberians residing in the United States.

Revoke Trump's interior enforcement executive order

Biden revoked Trump's 2017 executive order that made all undocumented immigrants a priority for arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying his administration will "reset the policies and practices for enforcing civil immigration laws to align enforcement with these values and priorities."

Biden also called on his administration to review agency actions put in place under Trump's 2017 order and issue revised guidance.

Send comprehensive immigration legislation to Congress

The bill would provide an immediate pathway to citizenship for farmworkers, DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status holders. It sketches out a plan for undocumented immigrants that would allow them to eventually apply for green cards if they pass background checks and pay taxes.

The bill also aims to clear visa backlogs, improve immigration courts and authorize funding for border technology, as well as provide $4 billion in funding to increase assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and to set up safe and legal channels for migrants to seek protection.

A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Linda Sanchez, announced Wednesday they will lead the effort to pass Biden's immigration bill on Capitol Hill.

In a narrowly-held Senate, the climb on immigration is steep especially given how far to the right Republicans have moved on the issue since the 2013 bipartisan bill. Sen. Bob Menendez will lead the bill on the Senate side. This is yet another sign of the coordinated approach the Biden administration is taking with Democratic allies on the hill to push their agenda forward.