News Update

President Joe Biden unveils proposal for sweeping immigration reform

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled his proposal for the first major push for immigration reform since 2013. It has been presented to the House and will be introduced in the Senate next week.

The proposal includes an eight-year path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants who currently live in the United States and a shortened process to legal status for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, among other items.

California has the highest number of DACA recipients of any state. There are an estimated 4,000 undocumented students enrolled in the 10-campus UC system, about 9,500 at California State University’s 23 campuses and about 50,000 to 70,000 in the state’s 115 community colleges. About half of those students are estimated to have protection from deportation and access to work permits, among other benefits, under the DACA program. There are also an estimated 4,000 teachers in California with DACA status, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

“Millions of immigrants are doing essential work to help us get through the pandemic and are in urgent need of stability and relief,” Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement. “We urge members of Congress to move swiftly to provide undocumented members of our communities with a pathway to citizenship, including a fast-track for those eligible for DACA, TPS, or DED, and for essential workers and farmworkers.”