The US House of Representatives on Tuesday evening passed a Bill that would give permanent citizenship to 2.5 million undocumented immigrants, including “dreamers” who were brought to the United States as children.
The final vote was 237-187.
The Dreamers’ Act, introduced in March, seeks to give a pathway to citizenship to two major groups of immigrants whose legal status President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened: unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the US as children (known as DREAMers) and immigrants with temporary humanitarians protections.
Cheers erupted in the chamber when the bill got the necessary votes along with chants of “yes we can.” Only seven Republicans broke ranks to join all 230 Democrats present in backing the bill.
It would grant dreamers 10 years of legal residence status if they meet certain requirements. They would then receive permanent green cards after completing at least two years of higher education or military service, or after working for three years.
“Dreamers and those with TPS (Temporary Protected Status) and DED (Deferred Enforced Departure) status are contributing to our country and to our economy, and deserve to have certainty that they will be able to stay with their families in the place they call home,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote in a Dear Colleague letter to the Democratic caucus this week.
The measure would provide long-awaited clarity to the millions of dreamers who have been caught in legal limbo amid years of partisan maneuvering on the issue.
The Obama administration granted work permits to many of them through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but President Trump ended the program in late 2017. Its fate rests with the Supreme Court, which may take up the issue in the coming months.
Freshman Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), the son of Eritrean refugees, got a standing ovation from Democrats as he quoted former president Ronald Reagan to defend immigration as integral to the fabric of America, describing dreamers as “young people all across our country who know no other home but the United States.”
“We can’t allow these young people to continue to live in fear, to be at risk,” Neguse said.
Different versions of the bill have been introduced in Congress over the years but never passed.
“This is legislation that is consistent with who we are as Americans, as an aspirational people, as a nation of immigrants and as a place where people can come to pursue the American Dream,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), the lead sponsor of the current bill, noted that Tuesday will mark “the first time the Dream Act will be passed by a chamber of Congress as a top Democratic priority.”
Following the passage, House Democratic voiced optimism that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would bring up the legislation in the Senate.
“There should be nothing partisan or political about this legislation,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a news conference where she was flanked by other Democrats and supporters of the measure. “We are proud to pass it, we hope, in a bipartisan way.”
However, analysts say it is unlikely that the Senate – which has more Republicans than Democrats -will consider the bill.
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