Defenders of undocumented immigrants have good and bad news for this population, since on the one hand there is progress in terms of support to approve a reform to the Registration Law , but for another in the Senate there are not enough Republicans to get it approved.
So far, this proposal presented last July by the Democratic representative Zoe Lofgren (California), president of the Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee of The Chamber has 70 representatives who co-sponsor the project.
This was confirmed by the activist Angélica Salas, president of the Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHIRLA), in an interview with the podcast “El Diario Sin Límites.”
Last September, that organization had on the list Democratic representatives, as part of the campaign of meetings and calls to support the project that would open the door to citizenship for some eight million undocumented immigrants.
It is possible that the Democratic support will advance, but the main problem is in the Senate, where
is required Republicans who support the plan for approval.
“We ask Democratic senators how many [Republicans] we are talking about, they talk about four or five,” Salas shared.
That number matches that provided by Democratic senators last week, including Alex Padilla (California), who acknowledged some progress with moderate Republicans .
“In the office of the senator [Catherine] Cortez Masto we asked her if they were speaking with the leader Mitch McConnell ”, Salas said. “To ensure that he actually gives the green light for his senators to vote on an immigration issue.”
The activist’s concern is that while some Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (New York), They try to convince Republicans that they cannot vote without an endorsement from their leadership.
“The situation is very complicated, let’s be very realistic, but what I do know is that a real, genuine fight has to be waged, not just promises,” Salas said. “In order to see if there are votes from the Republicans and they are willing to distance themselves from that anti-immigrant perspective that, unfortunately, the majority of the Republican Party has.”
At the end of September, Senator Padilla introduced the “mirror” reform in the Senate, that is, the same plan that was presented in July before the Chamber.
What is the Registration Law
In a bipartisan manner, in 1986 the Registration Law was created, which allows undocumented immigrants with a certain period living in the United States to apply for a Green Card.
“We want the Registration Law to be updated, which began in 1929, to help undocumented people,” Salas said. “It is a law that basically says that by having been in this country for a certain amount of time… you can show that amount of time, plus good moral character and not be eligible for deportation, then you can qualify for permanent residence.”
The activist recalled that the last reform of this law occurred in 2015 and although it is still in force, it applies to those who arrived in the country in the seventies of the last century, not later, for this reason its updating is required.
“Update it, so that anyone who has been here since 2015 can legalize her status,” she said.
Proponents of the project indicate that it is the best way to protect millions of people from deportation, including those ‘dreamers’, people with Temporary Protection Status (TPS), agricultural workers and other undocumented immigrants with deferred actions for deportation.
The main challenge at this time is that congressmen have one month to approve the reform, before the end of the period known as ‘lame duck’, that is, the last days of the current legislature, due to the fact that Congress begins on January 3, 2015 1986.