The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 was a legislative bill that was proposed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office. It was formally introduced in the House by Representative Linda Sánchez. It died with the ending of the 117th Congress.
The bill would have made sweeping changes across the board to the United States immigration, visa, and border control system, including reversal and Congressional prohibition of many of the immigration-related executive actions of former president Donald Trump; providing a path to legal residence and eventual citizenship for as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants, as well as current DACA and Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries, essential workers on a non-immigrant status, and agricultural laborers; recreating the V visa program to allow families to await immigrant visa approval together in the US; ending country-specific visa annual maximums; granting immediate relative status to spouses and children of green card holders; and other changes.
Background The bill was introduced in the House and Senate on February 18, 2021, by Representative Linda Sanchez and Senator Bob Menendez.
Several Republican lawmakers expressed their opposition to the bill, with Republican Senator Marco Rubio referring to it as a '"non-starter" and "blanket amnesty". Menendez led lobbying efforts for the bill in the Senate, which he called a "Herculean" task due to Republican opposition.
In addition to sending the bill to Congress, on his first day in office, Joe Biden signed three orders related to immigration. The first, in a Presidential Memorandum to the Attorney General of the United States and the Secretary of Homeland Security, aims to reinstate the DACA program. The second, in the form of a Presidential Proclamation, overturned the travel ban imposed by Donald Trump through Executive Order 13780. The third was an Executive Order reversing Executive Order 13768, which had declared "sanctuary" cities that refused to comply with immigration enforcement measures ineligible to receive Federal grants. Another Presidential Proclamation halted the construction of the Mexico-United States barrier by ending the emergency declaration that allowed Trump to divert U.S. Department of Defense funds for its construction.
Under Senate rules, the bill needed 60 votes for cloture to overcome a filibuster. Facing Republican opposition, the White House indicated the possibility of breaking the reform bill into pieces so that portions more likely to be approved (like the DACA, and employment visa provisions), could pass sooner.
Support
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19) Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) Nydia Velázquez (NY-07) Yvette Clarke (NY-09) Karen Bass (CA-37) Judy Chu (CA-27) Raul Ruiz (CA-36) Grace Napolitano (CA-32) Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) Salud Carbajal (CA-24) Juan Vargas (CA-51) Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) Ruben Gallego (AZ-07) Lou Correa (CA-46) Pete Aguilar (CA-31) Veronica Escobar (TX-16) Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) Tony Cardenas (CA-29) Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03) Joaquin Castro (TX-20) Nanette Barragan (CA-44) Filemon Vela (TX-34) Darren Soto (FL-09) Mike Levin (CA-49) Jim Costa (CA-16) Ritchie Torres (NY-15) Albio Sires (NJ-08) Lori Trahan (MA-03) Gregorio Sablan (MP-AL) Michael San Nicolas (GU-AL) Katherine Clark (MA-05) Jerrold Nadler (NY-10) Jim McGovern (MA-02) Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) Peter Welch (VT-AL) Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL) Kathy Manning (NC-06) Steven Horsford (NV-04) Gerald Connolly (VA-11) Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) Mark Takano (CA-41) Diana DeGette (CO-01) Brenda Lawrence (MI-14) Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL) Sara Jacobs (CA-53) Brad Schneider (IL-10) Ted Lieu (CA-33) Frederica Wilson (FL-24) Jerry McNerney (CA-09) Adam Schiff (CA-28) Betty McCollum (MN-04) Val Demings (FL-10) Al Green (TX-09) Thomas Suozzi (NY-03) Marie Newman (IL-03) Dwight Evans (PA-03) Carolyn Maloney (NY-12) Gregory Meeks (NY-05) Anthony G. Brown (MD-04) Nikema Williams (GA-05) Joe Neguse (CO-02) Donald Beyer (VA-08) Eric Swalwell (CA-15) David Trone (MD-06) Lois Frankel (FL-21) Frank Pallone (NJ-06) John Garamendi (CA-03) Dina Titus (NV-01) Danny K. Davis (IL-07) Doris Matsui (CA-06) David Cicilline (RI-01) Deborah Ross (NC-02) Mondaire Jones (NY-17) Marc Veasey (TX-33) Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) Hank Johnson (GA-04) Stacey Plaskett (VI-AL) Bobby Rush (IL-01) Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) Kathy Castor (FL-14) Mike Quigley (IL-05) Jim Cooper (TN-05) Julia Brownley (CA-26) Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) Jake Auchincloss (MA-04) Alcee Hastings (FL-20) Jahana Hayes (CT-05) Barbara Lee (CA-13) Ted Deutch (FL-22) Josh Harder (CA-10) André Carson (IN-07) Kaiali'i Kahele (HI-02) John B. Larson (CT-01) Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) Chellie Pingree (ME-01) Maxine Waters (CA-43) Sean Casten (IL-06) Mike Thompson (CA-05) Anna Eshoo (CA-18) Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) Lloyd Doggett (TX-35) Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02) Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) Adam Smith (WA-09) Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) Seth Moulton (MA-06) John Yarmuth (KY-03) Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) Dan Kildee (MI-05) Madeleine Dean (PA-04) Grace Meng (NY-06) Joseph Morelle (NY-25) Bill Foster (IL-11) Chuy García (IL-04) Brian Higgins (NY-26) Jared Huffman (CA-02) Bill Keating (MA-09) Robin Kelly (IL-02) Gwen Moore (WI-04) Jamie Raskin (MD-08) Terri Sewell (AL-07) Rick Larsen (WA-02) Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08) Brendan Boyle (PA-02) Kweisi Mfume (MD-07) Joyce Beatty (OH-03) Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) David Price (NC-04) Mark Pocan (WI-02) Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) Brad Sherman (CA-30) Bill Pascrell (NJ-09) Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03) Lauren Underwood (IL-14) Paul Tonko (NY-20) Alma Adams (NC-12) Suzan DelBene (WA-01) Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05) Donald McEachin (VA-04) Ro Khanna (CA-17) Debbie Dingell (MI-12) Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) John Sarbanes (MD-03) Steve Cohen (TN-09) Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10) Haley Stevens (MI-11) Rashida Tlaib (MI-13)
Provisions
Administrative reform
The bill would increase the number of immigration courts, judges, and USCIS adjudicators aiming to reduce the backlog of immigration cases. It also provides funding for legal orientation programs and counseling on immigration-related matters. Besides, existing state, local and private not-for-profit programs promoting integration and inclusion, including English language training, would receive supplemental federal funding.
Federal housing programs including FHA mortgage insurance, the Rural Housing Service, and Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae, would be prohibited from discriminating against single-family homebuyers who have DACA status.
State institutions of higher education would no longer be forced to deny resident tuition status to individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States. DACA recipients who received employment authorization would no longer be barred from federal employment on the basis of their non citizenship.
Asylum reform
Under the legislation, U and T visa applicants, as well as VAWA applicants would receive increased protections. All asylum seekers would also face reduced administrative burdens for their application.
Border security
In contrast to the Trump administration's policy of building a border wall, this legislation focuses on smart border screening technology and security between ports of entry and enhanced penalties against criminal gangs and drug traffickers.
It also seeks to protect border communities, by increasing CBP agent training and education for professionalism and develops a unified standard of care for those in CBP custody. It creates a Border Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee to investigate misconduct by DHS agents.
Employment-based visa reform
The bill proposes to reduce the administrative burden for employment-based visas, especially for those with advanced STEM degrees from US universities. This includes making F-1 Visas 'dual-intent' visas; under current law, a prospective student who cannot satisfy a consular official of their intent to return home after their studies would be denied a visa under Section 214(b) of the INA.
In addition, it proposes removing per-country limits in the US visa system. These limits have particularly affected people born in India, for whom current waits for green cards run into several decades. According to a CATO analysis, without removing these limits, a person chargeable to India applying today would need to wait 150 years to get a green card under the EB-2 category. The removal of per-country limits has previously been approved by both houses of Congress, but was never signed into law.
The bill prevents children from aging out of the visa system. Under current law, a child whose parents were awaiting a green card would have no legal status on their own upon reaching the age of 21.
The Department of Homeland Security would be able to adjust the annual cap on employment-based visas based on macro-economic conditions.
Family and diversity visa reform
The bill raises the cap on diversity green cards from 55,000 per year to 80,000 per year.
Those awaiting family visas would be allowed to join their family members in the United States while they await their green card priority date. It would increase protections for LGBTQ+ families, and families of those who fought along with the United States military in World War II. Unlike with employment-based visas, the per-country limits on family visas would be increased, but not eliminated. The countries of chargeability most affected by per-country limits on family visas are Mexico and the Philippines.
It would reinstate the Central American Minors Program and creates a new Central American Family Reunification program to allow quicker reunification for those with approved family petitions.
NO-BAN Act
The bill incorporates the provisions of the National-Origin Based Anti Discrimination Act for Nonimmigrants (NO-BAN) Act. This would prevent a future administration from imposing a ban like the one imposed by Donald Trump in Executive Order 13769, popularly labeled as the "Muslim Ban".
Nomenclature The bill proposed changing all references to the word "alien" in US law with the word "noncitizen," addressing growing concerns that the term was dehumanizing.
Pathways to permanent residence The bill proposed amending the Immigration and Nationality Act's Section 245, which concerns adjustment of status—the process by which a noncitizen already in the United States can acquire lawful permanent residency, commonly known as "green card" status, without having to travel abroad and receive an immigrant visa from a US consular post. Once permanent residence is obtained, immigrants would then have the ability to apply for citizenship after a waiting period and if conduct and civic knowledge requirements are met. The bill did not propose to change the existing adjustment of status rules under INA §245A, which generally allow adjustment of status to those immediately eligible for an immigrant visa. Instead, it would have added the four new pathways to citizenship described below.
General eligibility