Biden’s Calls for Immigration Reform Present Opportunities for Republican Lawmakers

President Joe Biden recently released an outline of immigration policies he is asking Congress to construct into a bill. He also mentioned that he would support the passage of these policies piece by piece.

Surprisingly, Biden’s framework is not amnesty or a “clean” Dream Act that grants instant citizenship like Democrats demanded the last four years. Instead, the framework calls for a method for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants to earn conditional legal status involving background checks, IDs, and paying taxes. It also calls for improvements in border security and immigration enforcement.

Conservatives have always said immigrants should get in line, and this policy would finally create a lawful line for the unauthorized immigrants who are trying to get right with the law to earn their legal status.

The president’s call for immigration reform provides a new opportunity for lawmakers to reduce the current population of unauthorized immigrants in the US by identifying and taxing them.

Republican lawmakers can play their cards right in the Senate by negotiating for the improvement of enforcement policies like E-verify as part of a bipartisan immigration bill. This would provide a great opportunity to reduce the population of unauthorized immigrants in the US, improve border security, and decrease future illegal immigration.

A policy to ID and tax unauthorized immigrants would greatly benefit Americans by increasing federal tax revenues and leveling the playing field for American businesses and workers who are playing by the rules, but are currently being undercut by employers that exploit the underground economy.

By allowing the unauthorized immigrants with clean records who want to earn legal status, follow all our laws, and pay all their taxes to do so, ID and Tax would also allow DHS to focus more resources on persecuting any remaining criminal unauthorized immigrants and people who attempt to migrate to the US illegally in the future. In addition to improving the ability to identify everyone in the country, this would improve national security.

Furthermore, allowing unauthorized immigrants to earn legal status will make them feel more secure and more likely to get vaccines, work with law enforcement, purchase auto-insurance, and contribute positively to society.