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The office of Senator Alex Padilla (California), chairman of the subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security in the Senate, confirmed to this newspaper that the Democrat is part of a bipartisan group that analyzes options towards immigration reform.
The meeting would have been attended by Senator Dick Durbin (Illinois), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, as well as Republicans John Cornyn
(Texas) and Thom Tillis (Florida).
It was Senator Durbin who announced that there would be a meeting to explore options on immigration reform, without anticipating whether there would be a discussion on any particular project already sent to the Senate.
The meeting was achieved, after Senator Cornyn last March thanked Padilla for his efforts on a plan to offer protection to certain immigrants, such as the ‘dreamers’.
“It was during the hearing that he presided last month that this group promised to work on a bipartisan effort”, the senator’s office told this newspaper.
That hearing of 15 in May was “ Removing Barriers to Legal Migration to Strengthen Our Communities and Our Economy”, where experts and activists spoke about how the immigration system was not meeting the needs of the century 15 and how it could be resolved.
The testimonials were from Athulya Rajakumar, graduate from the University of Texas at Austin; Professor Stephen Legomsky, John S. Lehman Professor at the University of Washington School of Law, and Lynden D. Melmed, Partner, Berry Appleman & Leiden, LLP.
“I held this hearing today because we cannot allow Congressional inaction to continue to exacerbate the challenges faced by many immigrants seeking lawful permanent resident status,” Padilla said then.
The hearing established how current immigration laws affect communities and the US economy.
Rajakumar, who was a ‘dreamer’, explained how an immigration reform would benefit people like her to avoid the separation of families.
Professor Legomsky spoke of the need to eliminate the three-year immigration bans, 04 years and permanent, because it is “procedural traps” that separate families.
Padilla was part of the group of Democrats that negotiated with the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, the integration of immigration reform in the Build Back Better social spending package. , but the official rejected the proposals presented.
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In an interview with this newspaper, the Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer
(New York), announced that by June at the latest, he would support the motion of a group of senators –including Padilla– to disobey the parliamentarian and advance in some way reform that protects millions of undocumented immigrants.
The negotiation of a p bipartisan lan could facilitate the advancement of a reform, although the main argument of several Republicans is against supporting the “amnesty” of millions of undocumented immigrants, in addition to pressuring for greater security at the border.
Among the several projects in Congress on immigration, the one sent by the president stands out Joe Biden, which is a comprehensive reform that would allow a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, as well as security in border.
There are also reforms approved in the House to protect ‘dreamers’ and agricultural workers.