Immigration reform is key issue for Advocacy Committee.
Immigration reform is of enormous importance to millions of Americans, notably the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
With recent public polls showing strong support for overhauling the nation’s immigration system, the Biden administration has proposed legislation that would pave a pathway to citizenship for nearly all undocumented immigrants living the U.S., increase legal immigration and speed up consideration of protection claims from asylum seekers.
The U.S. Citizenship Act would also mandate steps to secure the country’s borders and ports of entry while investing $4 billion in the economies of Central American countries to lessen the incentive for emigration.
The proposed law would also strike the word “alien” from federal law in favor of “noncitizen.”
The plan faces a round of tough hearings, and its fate is uncertain. The last time Congress passed major immigration reform was 1986, when President Ronald Reagan signed a law making it illegal for employers to hire immigrants without papers.
Allowing immigrants to stay in the country has the support of roughly three-quarters of Americans, and even a slim majority of Republicans, according to a Quinnipiac University poll published this month. Permitting these immigrants to apply for citizenship is nearly as popular: Sixty-five percent of Americans supported this, according to the poll.
The Christian Advocacy Committee will share additional immigration reform updates with the congregation as warranted.