Immigration advocates across the country have united and are calling
for the Senate parliamentarian to be disregarded.
President Biden also recently made an announcement
that he will be splitting up the build back better bill into two parts.
And Senator Joe Manchin has indicated that he's ready to resume talks
on reconciliation, but which undocumented individuals will be put on a pathway
to citizenship in this new plan immigration advocates are pushing for?
And could this actually be successful when previous attempts have failed?
Stay tuned because we are going to discuss all the details you need to know.
And if this is your first time on my channel, be sure to subscribe
and turn on notifications for regular immigration news updates.
So what are these renewed calls for disregarding the parliamentarian
and how are they different from previous attempts to do so?
As many of you know, the Build Back Better Reconciliation
Bill initially started with a pathway to citizenship that would
legalize approximately 11 million undocumented individuals.
When Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled against this plan,
the next proposal was to update the immigration registry
so that any undocumented individuals who had been in the country
since 2011 would be able to get a green card.
However, when the parliamentarian ruled against the registry plan,
also called Plan B, immigration advocates were split between those who were willing
to accept a watered down Plan C and those who were not.
Now that MacDonough has ruled against Plan C,
all immigration advocacy groups have recognized that the only way
to get immigration reform passed is by disregarding her,
and they have joined together to pressure Senate Democrats to do exactly that.
So what does this new disregard strategy propose?
Under this new approach, Democrats would put the immigration
registry language back in the bill, essentially returning to the "Plan B"
that was rejected by the parliamentarian in September of last year.
In order for that to happen, at least 41 Democratic senators will need to vote
to sustain the language and eventually all 50 will need to vote for it.
A Senate PowerPoint was recently shared with immigration advocates
showing how many Senate Democrats are on board with taking this approach.
And while the specific numbers haven't been shared with media outlets,
immigration advocates appear confident it could pass.
As many of you might have guessed, the primary obstacle remains
Joe Manchin, the senator from West Virginia,
who has opposed the build back better bill every step of the way.
But even that might change.
In my last update on the build back better bill,
it sounded like Senator Manchin was refusing to budge.
But recent reports say that he might have changed his mind.
Earlier this week, Biden gave a speech indicating that he plans
to split the build back better bill up into two parts
separating the climate provisions from everything else,
saying: "I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now
and come back and fight for the rest later." Days later, Senator Manchin
announced that he is ready to restart negotiations from scratch
and that the climate portion
will be the easiest part for them to reach agreement on.
He has yet to say anything about the immigration provisions,
but his willingness to resume talks is an important first step
if they are going to pass at all.
This also means that the climate portion of the build back
better bill will likely take priority over the other parts.
So if Senate Democrats successfully reinstate Plan B,
then it will probably be weeks or months before they vote on it.
The pressure is on for them to deliver.
Not only has every immigration advocacy group in the country united together
to push for the parliamentarian to be disregarded,
but President Biden's approval ratings have reached a new low due
to his inability to deliver on campaign promises, including immigration.
In response to this push for immigration reform,
Lorella Praeli, co-president of Community Change,
said "There's a lot of unity around wanting to get something done.
There's a lot of unity around
using every tool and lever that we have to see it through.
It comes down to questions of political will
and the Democrats' ability to organize themselves and their caucus.
What do you think?
Is there a chance immigration groups can put enough pressure
on Senate Democrats to reinstate Plan B in the build back better bill?
Could they actually get Joe Manchin to vote for it?
Leave me a comment below and let me know.
And if you want to hear about some of the other immigration
reform that the Biden administration has planned for 2022,
I'll include a link to my immigration predictions video here.
I will also continue bringing you additional immigration news
as it's available,
so be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications if you haven't done so yet.
Click here to watch this video next and I'll see you there.