House Passes Immigration Bill With Pathway to Citizenship for Dreamers

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to approve legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of young immigrants.

CNN reports H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021, was passed Thursday by a vote of 228 to 197, with all House Democrats and nine Republicans voting in favor of the bill. The legislation would allow more than 2.3 million Dreamers—undocumented immigrants who entered the country as minors—to receive permanent legal status and U.S. citizenship down the road. 

H.R. 6 would also benefit immigrants who have received Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which is given to those who come to the U.S. to escape humanitarian crises. The bill would allow TPS recipients and Deferred Enforced Departure beneficiaries to gain legal status and apply for U.S. citizenship, which means up to 4.4 million individuals would be eligible for naturalization.

“They’re so much of our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said of Dreamers ahead of Thursday’s vote. “These immigrant communities strengthen, enrich and ennoble our nation, and they must be allowed to stay.”

The House is expected take on another bill Thursday that would create similar protections for migrant farmworkers living in the country without authorization. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. estimates that about half of the country’s agricultural workforce is made up of undocumented immigrants. The bill would make changes to the H-2A guest worker program, and would allow these laborers, as well as their spouses and children, to earn legal status through agricultural work.