President Biden will reinstate portions of the Central American Minors Program (CAM) that were cancelled by the Trump administration CAM was originally established by the Obama administration in November 2014, in response to family separations among immigrants from Central America.
CAM was designed to facilitate family reunifications of migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, either in refugee status or under a temporary parole program.
All told, over 3.000 migrants have used one of these two pathways to enter the United States. The parole arrangement, however, was canceled by the Trump administration in August 2017, citing fears that the program could assist the spread of Central American gangs such as MS-13. Nevertheless, the CAM program still allows qualifying applicants to enter the US in refugee status.
Reinstituting the Parole Option
The US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) is working together with the Department of Homeland Security to reinstitute CAM´s parole option for those who do not qualify for refugee status. One of the primary motivations for doing so is to discourage migrants from undertaking the dangerous journey over the US’s southern border.
The reopening will occur in two phases. First, immigration authorities will adjudicate suspended applications that were canceled by the Trump administration. The USCIS will notify parent applicants to determine if (i) they are still lawfully present in the US, and (ii) if they would like to re-open their cases.
Next, PRM will work through its Resettlement Support Center in El Salvador to contact the child and parent beneficiaries from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to re-institute case processing that was suspended in 2017. Finally, PRM and the USCIS will begin accepting and processing new applications.
Eligibility Requirements
Unless the Biden administration changes the rules, you will need to meet the following requirements to qualify as a qualifying parent, a qualifying child beneficiary, or parent beneficiary under the CAM program.
Qualifying Parents
To bring a qualifying child to the United States under the CAM program, you must be at least 18 years old, and you must be physically present in the US. Your presence in the US must be based on one of the following immigration categories::
- Lawful permanent resident;
- Deferred Action;
- Deferred Enforced Departure;
- Parole;
- Temporary Protected Status; or
- Withholding of Removal.
In any case, your presence in the US must be lawful at the time you submit your application.
But what if you are the qualifying child’s other parent? Suppose, for example, that the child’s mother files a CAM application on behalf of her child, and you are the child’s father. You can also qualify for parole into the United States, as long as:
- You are part of the same household as the qualifying child; and
- You are legally married to the qualifying parent, both at the time the CAM Affidavit of Relationship is filed, and at the time you arrive in the US.
A CAM Affidavit of Relationship, known as DS-7699, is a US State Department form that allows you to prove your qualifying relationship (parent/child or spouse/spouse).
Child Beneficiaries
To enter the US as a qualifying child, you must meet the following requirements:
- You must be the child of a qualifying parent, as defined above. It is fine if you are a stepchild or an adopted child. Your qualifying parent must apply on your behalf.
- You must be under 21 years of age.
- You must be unmarried.
- You must be a citizen or national of El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras.
Re-establishment of the CAM parole program is expected to begin sometime in March 2021 with respect to the re-opening of suspended applications. The acceptance of brand-new applications, however, is likely to be delayed until some time in the spring of 2021.
President Biden has proposed legislation that would legalize the presence of more than 11 million undocumented migrants now living in the United States. If the legislation is passed, most of these people will be able to seek permanent residence and eventually US citizenship. Trouble may be brewing, however. Thousands of more migrants, many of them unaccompanied children, are pouring over the southern border, overwhelming immigration detention facilities.
On the surface, President Biden appears to be facing a no-win situation. If he releases these migrants into the US to await their immigration court dates, they could disappear. At this point, he would be accused of administering what amounts to an “open borders” immigration policy. If, on the other hand, he detains these migrants in overcrowded immigration facilities, he will be accused of committing the same human rights abuses that his own party criticized Trump for.
Why Biden is Being Blamed?
President Biden´s political opponents have seized upon his promise of permanent residence and citizenship offer to undocumented migrants who are already in the US. They argue that it provides an incentive for migrants to sneak across the border and then just “wait it out” until the next immigration amnesty is offered. Republicans also accuse Biden of seeking eventual citizenship for Hispanic migrants because they historically tend to vote for Democratic candidates.
The Situation is Getting Worse
The crisis is growing worse, not better. In January 2021 about 80,000 people attempted to cross the southern border illegally, which amounts to about double the number that attempted to cross a year earlier, in January 2020. All of this has occurred despite the fact that the US has become the epicenter of a global pandemic since then.
Additionally, the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the US border has quadrupled since October 2020. With peak travel season hitting around May and June, it is difficult to forecast just how many migrants will be seeking entry to the United States.
Meanwhile, President Biden´s options are narrowing. To detain child migrants, US Customs & Border Protection is projected to need another 20,000 beds–not including the additional number of beds that will be needed to house adults. Most of these migrants come not from Mexico but from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. These migrants are fleeing for their lives–two-thirds report close family members kidnapped or killed back home.
Biden Ends Trump’s Disastrous “Remain in Mexico” Program
Tent cities had been popping up all over northern Mexico, an area that is home to numerous drug cartels that have turned Mexico into the home of some of the worlds most dangerous cities. The last migrants caught in the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” web left for the US on March 5, where their asylum cases will be processed. Another 40,000 returned home after their asylum applications were rejected.
An Alternative
Deterring these migrants through strict enforcement of US immigration laws, as the Trump administration sought to do, will not be easy. A more sensible way, to the extent that it is practically feasible, is to encourage migrants to apply for asylum in the US and then successfully process their cases as soon as possible.
Migrants who are represented by immigration attorneys, who apply for asylum in the US, are about 50 pércent likely to obtain the relief they seek if they are in detention why they apply. This rate rises to well over 60 percent if they are represented but have never been detained. Corresponding rates for unrepresented migrants hover well under 50 percent. If you are seeking entry to the United States, your best bet is to seek the services of an experienced US immigration lawyer.
Content
- Introduction
- The Four Pathways to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants
- Employment-Based Visa Reforms
- Other Immigration Reforms
- What the Bill Leaves Out
- Will the Bill Become Law?
Introduction
The Trump administration brought the US immigration system to a standstill during the waning days of his presidency, especially for Dreamers, TPS holders, asylum seekers and other vulnerable immigrants.
Joe Biden´s election to the White House, however, promises to restore humanity and American values to our immigration system. On February 18, 2021, President Biden submitted the US Citizenship Act of 2021 bill to Congress. If Congress approves it, the bill will reform much of the Trump-era immigration system and create four new pathways to citizenship that could benefit up to 11 million individuals.
The Four Pathways to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants
You must meet certain threshold requirements set forth in the bill before you can avail yourself of any of the four new pathways to citizenship. These requirements are as follows:
- You must have been physically present in the United States on January 1, 2021,
- You must have continued your presence until the approval of your permanent residence application, with no interruptions except for travel under advance parole or certain other exceptions.
- If immediately after three years of continuous physical presence in the United States, you left the US voluntarily or by deportation between January 20, 2017, and December 31, 2020, you can seek a waiver of the above requirements based on humanitarian, family reunion, or US national interest grounds.
The four new pathways are typically not available if you were a permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or lawful nonimmigrant on January 1, 2021. Keep in mind, however, that you might be able to use other aspects of the immigration system to obtain permanent residence based on your legal status. Certain spouses and children of eligible intending immigrants can also seek permanent residence under the bill´s new pathways.
Fringe Benefits of the New Immigration System
If you qualify under the foregoing standards, you will enjoy the following fringe benefits:
- You will not be subject to any numerical quota.
- You may remain in the United States until the authorities have made a final decision on your application. In other words, you will not be deported or told to wait abroad until your immigrant visa is approved.
- You can work in the US while your application is being adjudicated.
- You can travel abroad while your application is being adjudicated, by applying for and receiving advance parole, This will allow you to pass through US ports of entry without an immigrant visa.
Once you know that you qualify under the above-listed threshold requirements, and you know that you will enjoy fringe benefits such as work authorization and advance parole, you will be able to select which immigration pathway to citizenship you qualify for under the new bill, and you can target your application accordingly.
Pathway # 1: “Lawful Prospective Immigrants”
If you qualify under the threshold requirements of the bill, you will be able to seek Lawful Prospective Immigrant status. Under this status, you will be allowed to remain in the US in six-year renewable increments. Although you will not be counted as a lawful permanent resident, you will be able to work, study and purchase health insurance. You will also be able to travel abroad for up to 180 days and return without prior authorization, and you will be able to receive a Social Security number.
Five years after you are granted lawful prospective immigrant status, you will be eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence (a green card), unless you have left the United States for 180 days in a row during that time.
Under the new bill, even individuals who have been abroad for more than 180 days will not be prevented from applying for green cards if it was authorized in advance or if it was due to circumstances beyond their control. Lastly, applicants must be current on their federal income tax obligations to qualify for green cards.
Pathway #2: DACA Dreamers (Childhood Arrivals)
If you arrived in the United States as an undocumented child immigrant, you likely know what it´s like to live in constant fear of deportation to a country you might barely remember and whose language you might not even speak. Public sympathy has always been with you, but the Trump administration´s attitude was hostile.
While the Obama administration granted temporary DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) benefits to temporarily keep “DACA Dreamers” in the United States, the Trump administration ordered a phase-out of DACA protections. Only judicial action was able to delay this phase-out, and only the election of Joe Biden prevented it from happening.
The immigration system created by the US Citizenship Act of 2021 bill would put DACA Dreamers and others who entered the US as children on a pathway to citizenship. If you arrived in the United States before your 18th birthday, whether or not legally and whether or not accompanied by an adult, the new bill will allow you to become a permanent resident if:
- You have graduated from high school or obtained a high school equivalency certificate;
- You registered for the Selective Service (if you are required to do so); and
- You have either (i) completed at least two years of postsecondary level education, (ii) served in the US armed forces for at least two years, or (iii) have earned income for at least three years or at least three-fourths of the time you have been authorized to work in the United States.
The new bill would allow those who already hold DACA status and are eligible to renew their status to apply for green cards immediately. In almost all cases, spouses and children are also eligible to immigrate.
Pathway #3: Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure
You might have been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) if you were in the US when an armed conflict, political unrest, or a disaster occurred in your home country. TPS and DED are special protections, based on humanity and American values, that allow you to remain in the US legally until the extraordinary conditions in your home country subside. By itself, it does not allow you to apply for permanent residence.
The US Citizenship Act of 2021 bill will allow you to obtain permanent residence as long as:
- Your current presence in the US is justified by TPS or DED;
- You have been living in the US continuously since January 1, 2017; and
- You were eligible for TPS or DED on January 1, 2017.
Your spouse and children will be eligible to immigrate with you.
Pathway #4: Agricultural Workers
You can obtain permanent residence if you meet the threshold requirements above, and if you worked at least 2,300 hours or 400 days performing agricultural labor in the United States, Unlike the other three pathways, you do not need to have entered or remained in the US illegally to qualify. You can become a green card holder under this pathway for example, if you worked legally in the US under the H-2A non-immigrant visa program. Your spouse and children can immigrate with you.
Employment-Based Visa Reforms
The second most significant set of reforms contained in the US Citizenship Act of 2021 is its modification of the employment-based visa system that offers green cards for workers. Some of these reforms include:
- Removal of per-country quotas on employment visas. Per country restrictions are often ludicrous–under the current regime, for example, Indians seeking second preference employment-based immigration to the US face a wait of 150 years!
- The Department of Homeland Security would enjoy greater flexibility in adjusting annual caps on certain types of employment visas. Unused visas from previous years would also be added back in to increase an existing cap.
- Child dependents who accompany a parent to the US under an employment visa (including H 1B) will no longer “age out” of the system. Currently, the age limit at the time of the last visa extension is 21.
- The paperwork involved in obtaining an employment-based visa, especially in the employment verification process for applicants holding advanced STEM degrees from US universities, would be reduced.
- Extending “dual intent” status to the F-1 student visa to allow STEM students graduating from U.S. universities to apply directly for permanent residence.
- Increasing the annual quota for EB-3 immigration visas from 10,000 to 40,000 for workers who are neither skilled nor professional workers. This move will benefit workers in lower-wage positions, and will also protect these workers from exploitation.
- Cease the current practice of counting spouses and children towards any remaining employment-based visa caps.
- Allow spouses and children of H-1B workers to obtain employment in the United States.
- Create a new employment-based visa program that recruits foreign workers for local and regional economic improvement projects, subject to a cap of 10,000 visas per year.
Other Immigration Reforms
The immigration reform represented by the Citizenship Act of 2021 goes further than opening up new pathways to citizenship. Following is a description of some of its other immigration reforms.
Family Visa Reform
The primary family-based visa goal of the US Citizenship Act of 2021 is to reduce the backlog for these types of visa petitions. The Citizenship Act will seek to accomplish this by:
- A new family unity exception: Allowing individuals who are waiting abroad for their visa priority date to become current to wait in the United States if they have approved family members here. This will greatly assist immigrant families that have been torn apart by Trump administration policies.
- Increasing country-based visa quotas.
- Reinstating the Central American Minors Program, which allows parents residing legally in the US to request that their children living in certain countries in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador ) be temporarily admitted to the US. It will also expedite family reunification under the Central American Family Protection and Reunification Act.
National-Origin Based Discrimination
The Citizenship Act incorporates the National origin-based Anti-Discrimination Act for Nonimmigrants (the “NO BAN” Act) into its immigration system. This law would ban the type of executive order issued by former President Trump that barred the entry of immigrants based on their citizenship in certain predominantly Islamic countries.
Permission from Congress (in the form of repeal or amendment of the law) would be required to bar anyone from entering the United States based on race, religion, or citizenship, no matter who occupies the White House.
Bureaucratic Reforms
The US immigration system is clogged, inefficient, and in the eyes of many, broken. The Citizenship Act would add immigration courts, immigration judges, and USCIS adjudicators in an effort to reduce immigration and citizenship backlogs.It will also provide funding for private local programs that will benefit immigrant families.
Border Security
The Biden administration will seek to enhance border security, not so much through the use of a wall on our southern border as through smart border screening and aggressive pursuit of criminal organizations that smuggle people across the border.
The bill will reform US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent training curricula to add additional requirements for professionalism and to develop consistent standards of treatment for those detained by the CDP. It will also emphasize a more aggressive investigation of alleged misconduct by US immigration officials. Finally, it will take steps to protect border communities and immigrant families.
Addressing the Root Causes of Migration
The Citizenship Act bill allows for the provision of up to $4 billion in assistance to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The aid contemplated by the bill is designed to reduce the corruption, poverty and violence that are the root causes of migration to the United States from Central America. The bill will also create processing centers that will allow citizens of these nations to apply for resettlement in the United States and elsewhere.
Asylum Reform
Applicants for U visas (crime victims) and T visas (victims of human trafficking) and applicants under the Violence Against Women Act (VAMA) will enjoy streamlined procedures under the bill that are designed to expedite applications.
Diversity Green Cards
The Citizenship Act bill raises the cap on diversity green cards (from the visa lottery) by 25,000, to 80,000 per year.
What the Bill Leaves Out
While the Citizenship Act bill is fairly comprehensive, it still manages to ignore important issues. In particular, the bill fails to adequately address the root causes of migration, and it does not adequately reform the nonimmigrant employment visa system.
For most employment-based immigrants, citizenship is the culmination of a long process that began in their home countries with the issuance of a temporary nonimmigrant visa. It is the unavailability of nonimmigrant employment visas, which the bill does little to address, that forms a bottleneck for a great number of otherwise qualified applicants.
New Employment Visas
Commendably, the bill does increase overall visa caps for several employment-based visas. What the bill does not do is create new visas for highly skilled immigration, or loosen many of the restrictive requirements for qualifying for the visa categories that do exist.
The US would do well to emulate countries like Canada and Australia, which have created new startup or entrepreneur visas. The US has benefited greatly from its status as a magnet for the world´s best and brightest, which has helped to grow our economy (think of Elon Musk, for example). With conditions improving in countries like China and India, there is a need to loosen restrictions in order to attract potential immigrants from those countries.
Will the Bill Become Law?
Conventional wisdom is nearly unanimous–the Citizenship Act bill will probably not be passed by Congress in its present form. A pared-down version of the bill is likely to make it through Congress at some point, though.
President Biden is unlikely to get everything that is contained in the bill. With a bit of luck and skillful political maneuvering, however, he might be able to get most of it. Hopefully, President Biden´s inauguration day of January 20, 2021, will prove to be a historic day in the history of US immigration.