The U.S. legislature is considering a bipartisan citizenship plan that would offer legal status and a path to citizenship for Dreamers who have lived in the country since 31 December, 2013.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, this legal framework is similar to an existing legislation in the House from Reps members Will Hurd (R-Texas), and Pete Aguilar, (D-Calif.).
Image: Senator Jon McCain
The proposal requires a thorough study aimed at identifying what border security measures need to be implemented.
Also, in view of the WSJ report, it is expected that a total of $110 million annual grant to Homeland Security for five years would maximally improve coordination between border-patrol agents and state and local law-enforcement officials. This line of action would clear bottlenecks in the immigration-court system.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chris Coons, D-Del., were scheduled to introduce the bipartisan citizenship plan on Monday (05/02/2018) for young immigrants known as Dreamers in order to reach a budget deal before funding for the federal government runs out this Friday.
In his press briefing on Sunday, McCain said: “It’s time we end the gridlock so we can quickly move on to completing a long-term budget agreement that provides our men and women in uniform the support they deserve.”
The said proposal excluded funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border which President Donald Trump earlier requested.
McCain was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and easily won re-election five times. His most recent nomination was in 2016.
“While reaching a deal cannot come soon enough for America’s service members, the current political reality demands bipartisan cooperation to address the impending expiration of the DACA program and secure the southern border,” the 81-year-old said.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program grants permission to residents who entered the U.S. as children with their parents. Such people can stay if they met certain criteria.
Unfortunately, Mr. Trump ended DACA in September with a six-month delay and said Congress needed to come up with a solution for the affected Dreamers.
