Democrats will try over the next few months to pass a bill granting citizenship rights to millions of illegal immigrants, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday.
The Maryland Democrat, previewing the House’s schedule up to a scheduled summer vacation, also said they’ll tackle some health care legislation as well as hold votes on anti-discrimination and voting rights legislation.
The push for an immigration bill comes amid a border crisis — though Democrats’ legislation would not offer any solutions to the surge of illegal immigrants attempting to sneak into the U.S. Instead, it focuses on illegal immigrants who came previously, in some cases years ago, and whom Democrats say have put down roots and deserve to get citizenship here.
The legislation would apply to illegal immigrant “Dreamers,” some of whom are already here under the Obama-era administrative deportation amnesty program known as DACA. The legislation would also apply to hundreds of thousands of migrants who are here under Temporary Protected Status, humanitarian protections because their home countries are suffering from natural or man-made disasters.
The bill would grant both Dreamers and TPS holders immediate protections from deportation, with a longer pathway to citizenship should they keep a fairly clean criminal record and pursue education or join the military.
“We’re going to pass DACA and TPS reform at some point in time in the near future,” Mr. Hoyer told reporters.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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