Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Tuesday said the Biden administration will take a more “humane” approach to immigration when the president-elect takes office next week.
The incoming administration plans to introduce an immigration reform bill that would grant automatic green cards to immigrants with Temporary Protected Status as well as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients – who were brought to the U.S. as children when their parents crossed the border illegally, Harris told Univision.
The plan would include a path to citizenship for millions living in the U.S. illegally.
It “creates a path for the majority of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country to” get citizenship, “first making them legal permanent residents, a status they could access within a period of eight years,” she said, Univision reported.
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Harris also told the network the administration would work to streamline the path to citizenship from 13 years down to 8, according to Politico.
“It’s a smarter and much more humane way of approaching immigration,” Harris said.
She also vowed to “expand protections” for DACA recipients and said the administration “will make sure that people receive [coronavirus] vaccines regardless of their immigration status.”
The plan also proposes to add more immigration judges to alleviate the backlog at the border, Politico reported.
She told Univision Biden’s administration would also end the controversial Trump policy of “dividing and separating families at the border” when the parents arrive seeking asylum.
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A group of immigration activists plans to meet with faith leaders in Delaware Wednesday, demanding a meeting with Biden to make sure he makes “good on his campaign promises, and to act immediately when he takes office next week to protect families,” according to Politico.