Today, the 115-member New Democrat Coalition, a Congressional caucus made up of centrist and liberal Democrats, released the “New Dem Immigration & Border Security Framework,” (Framework) meant to serve as the foundation of a bipartisan compromise on immigration.
Among other priorities, the Framework proposes to:
- Create a new temporary non-immigrant visa category for year-round work in industries experiencing worker shortages, including construction;
- Modernize and implement tools like E-Verify to ensure U.S. employers can determine new hires’ work eligibility;
- Grant undocumented immigrants who arrived to the U.S when they were 18+ and have been present for five years, temporary legal status if they pay a fine, pass a criminal background check, have not been convicted of a felony offense in the U.S. or their country of origin, and are enrolled in school or work full time and then grant these individuals lawful permanent residence status if they continue to meet certain criteria;
- Extend protections for Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure holders who have lawfully resided in the U.S.;
- Continue humanitarian parole status for Haitians, Cubans, Hondurans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, Afghans, and Ukrainians;
- Grant “Dreamers” conditional permanent resident status if they sufficiently meet criteria;
- Grant Dreamers lawful permanent resident status if they acquire a degree from an institution of higher education, or complete at least two years of a post-secondary level degree program while remaining in good standing, complete at least two years of military service or are honorably discharged, or maintain continued employment for a minimum of three years;
- Provide funding to hire additional immigration judges and staff support to address the significant backlog of asylum cases.