House Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on Reforming Immigration System

The House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on February 11, 2021 titled The U.S. Immigration System: The Need for Bold Reforms. The discussion covered a number of topics ranging from the terminology of using “illegal alien” versus “undocumented immigrant” to some policy steps the government can take to better approach the immigration system and solve its problems.

Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) opened the hearing with his thoughts on the current system and criticized actions of the previous administration, including “gutting the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which is used by people who are fleeing from countries in strife and peril.” Coming from an immigrant family himself, he called for a path to citizenship for current TPS holders.

Rep. Neguse also expressed support for the American Dream and Promise Act- a bill which cancels and prohibits removal proceedings against certain aliens and provides such aliens with a path toward permanent resident status. This bill was passed in the Democrat-controlled House in 2019 but was not considered in the Republican-controlled Senate. It has not been reintroduced yet in the new Congress.

Several immigration organizations provided statements for the hearing including Boundless, a Seattle-based technology company that empowers families to navigate the immigration system. During their testimony, they said that new policies have made it hard for families from lower income backgrounds to reach a path to citizenship. The organization explained in its letter, “One of the most egregious policies enacted in recent years is the public charge rule, essentially an income test that makes it much harder for non-wealthy families to obtain green cards. The rule, now under review by the Biden administration, goes against our core American values of inclusion and equality of opportunity.”

Another statement submitted to the committee was by United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led network in the United States. They claimed that there should be more input from those who were directly impacted by U.S. immigration policy.

The group noted in their statement, “We wish the Committee felt compelled to hear from directly impacted people as well as policy experts. Hearing from those who have to navigate the immigration system themselves or who are altogether left out of it unprotected is paramount to understanding the impact these policies have on our communities.”

A number of other groups sent statements to the committee including the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, the First Focus Campaign for Children, and the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors. Almost all of these groups were calling for improvements to the U.S. immigration system both policy wise and with more stakeholder input.

On immigration, the Biden administration has announced that it will conduct a sweeping review of the immigration process in the United States. This review includes re-evaluating the asylum and naturalization process, as well as reviewing the child separation policy. With a Democrat-controlled House and Senate, legislation may be on the way to codify these efforts.