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 make 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 in the United States, 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 Rep. Linda Sanchez, and Senator Bob Menendez respectively. Several Republican lawmakers have expressed their opposition to the bill. On the Democratic side in the United States Senate, lobbying for the bill was led by New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, which he called a "Herculean" task among 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, overturns the travel ban imposed by Donald Trump through Executive Order 13780. The third was an Executive Order reversing Executive Order 13768. Another Presidential Proclamation halted the construction of the Mexico-United States barrier by ending the emergency declaration that allowed Donald Trump to divert U.S. Department of Defense funds for its construction.
Under Senate rules, the bill would need 60 votes for cloture if any senator filibusters the legislation. Facing Republican opposition, the White House indicated they may be open to breaking the reform bill into pieces so that portions more likely to be approved (like the DACA, and employment visa provisions), can pass sooner.
Provisions
Nomenclature
The bill proposes changing all references to the word "alien" in US law with the word "noncitizen," addressing growing concerns that the term was dehumanizing. The definition remains the same, meaning that the new term of "noncitizen" will not apply to those American Samoans who do not, in fact, have US citizenship but only acquire the nationality of the United States upon birth.
Pathways to permanent residence
The bill would amend 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 then have the ability to apply for citizenship after a waiting period and if conduct and civic knowledge requirements are met. The bill would not 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 add four new pathways to citizenship which are described below.
General eligibility
The bill would only make these new programs available to noncitizens who were physically present on January 1, 2021 in the US and who remain present until the approval of their application, except for authorized travel (such as that under advance parole) or "casual, brief, and innocent" sojourns. Additionally, any non-citizen who left the US under a deportation, removal, or exclusion order or under voluntary departure, and was either outside the US on the January 1 cutoff or illegally re-entered after that date, is ineligible. However, those who left the US voluntarily or by deportation before January 1, 2021, but on or after January 20, 2017 (the Inauguration of Donald Trump), and were physically present for 3 continuous years prior to removal or departure, may have the required presence waived based on humanitarian purposes, family unity, or the public interest of the US.