House Dems reviving effort to update immigration law

A coalition of House Democrats are reviving efforts to provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.

Six Democrats have reintroduced the “Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929” bill that seeks to update a law created to allow immigrants to apply for permanent residency or a green card.

Initially, immigrants had to be in the US before 1921 to qualify, but the law has been updated several times, including in 1986, when the cutoff was moved to before 1972.

“What we’re going to do is look at passing immigration reform that’s very simple, to do it on one page. It’s not thousands of pages, it’s one page: Change the registry date,” bill sponsor Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) told Spectrum News. 

Other sponsors include New York’s Grace Meng and Adriano Espaillat; Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Norma Torres of California; and Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois.

All six pols said in a statement the bill would affect about 8 million immigrants and that 148 local, regional and national organizations supported the measure, according to Fox News.

Democrats’ recent attempts to grant amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants have failed.

In 2021, congressional Democrats introduced sweeping legislation that included a path to citizenship for certain undocumented farm workers, as well as providing “dreamers” who arrived in the US as minors protection from deportation and the ability to secure permanent legal status.

Both bills died in the Senate, and the path is expected to be even tougher this time, with Republicans now controlling the House.