US President-elect Joe Biden will unveil a long-expected immigration proposal after inauguration to provide a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
As it requires congressional action, Biden would send the plan to US Congress within his first 100 days in office.
Biden’s plan is the polar opposite of Donald Trump, whose successful 2016 presidential campaign rested in part on curbing or stopping illegal immigration.
The president-elect campaigned on a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million people in the US illegally, but it was unclear how quickly he would move while wrestling with the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and other priorities, report AP, CNN.
For advocates, memories were fresh of presidential candidate Barack Obama pledging the immigration bill his first year in office, in 2009, but not tackling the issue until his second term.
“This really does represent a historic shift from Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda that recognises that all of the undocumented immigrants who are currently in the United States should be placed on a path to citizenship,” said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.
If successful, the legislation would be the biggest move toward granting status to people in the country illegally since President Ronald Reagan bestowed amnesty on nearly 3 million people in 1986. Legislative efforts to overhaul immigration policy failed in 2007 and 2013.