House Passes Dems' Bills Offering Legal Status to 'Dreamers,' Farmworkers

"It is a Biden border crisis, and it is spinning out of control," said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California.

While the number of migrants caught trying to cross the border from Mexico has been rising since April, the 100,441 encountered last month was the highest figure since March 2019. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said the number is tracking toward a 20-year high.

Democrats were making that problem worse, Republicans said, with bills they said entice smugglers to sneak more immigrants into the U.S. and provide amnesty to immigrants who break laws to enter and live in the country.

"We don't know who these people are, we don't know what their intentions are," Rep. Jody Hice, R-Georgia, said of immigrant farmworkers who might seek legal status. He added, "It's frightening, it's irresponsible, it's endangering American lives."

During earlier debate on the Dreamers' bill, Democrats said Republicans were going too far.

"Sometimes I stand in this chamber and I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone, listening to a number of my Republican colleagues espouse white supremacist ideology to denigrate our Dreamers," said Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-New York.

The group of immigrants became referred to as "Dreamers" based on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act.

The House approved similar versions of the Dreamer and farm worker bills in 2019. Seven Republicans voted for the “Dreamers” bill and 34 backed the farmworkers measure that year.

Both 2019 measures died in what was a Republican-run Senate. Neither would have been signed by Trump, who spent his four years as president constricting legal and illegal immigration.

In contrast, Biden has suspended work on Trump’s wall along the Mexican border, ended his separation of young children from migrant families and allowed apprehended minors to stay in the U.S. as officials decide if they can legally remain. He has also turned away most single adults and families.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden supports both bills as “critical milestones toward much needed relief for the millions of individuals who call the United States home."

The Dreamer bill would grant conditional legal status for 10 years to many immigrants up to age 18 who were brought into the U.S. illegally before this year. They'd have to graduate from high school or have equivalent educational credentials, not have serious criminal records and meet other conditions.

To attain legal permanent residence, often called a green card, they'd have to obtain a higher education degree, serve in the military or be employed for at least three years. Like all others with green cards, they could then apply for citizenship after five years.

The measure would also grant green cards to an estimated 400,000 immigrants with temporary protected status, which allows temporary residence to people who have fled violence or natural disasters in a dozen countries.

Nine largely moderate Republicans joined all Democrats in backing the Dreamers bill.

The other bill would let immigrant farmworkers who've worked in the country illegally over the past two years — along their spouses and children — get certified agriculture worker status. That would let them remain in the U.S. for renewable 5 1/2-year periods.

To earn green cards, they would have to pay a $1,000 fine and work for up to an additional eight years, depending on how long they've already held farm jobs.

The legislation would also cap wage increases, streamline the process for employers to get H-2A visas that let immigrants work legally on farm jobs and phase in a mandatory system for electronically verifying that agriculture workers are in the U.S. legally.