House passes bill providing pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and those with Temporary Protected Status
18 March 2021
The House on Thursday voted 228-197 to pass the American Dream and Promise Act as part of Democrats' first effort at immigration reform under the Biden administration.
Why it matters: The bill creates a pathway to citizenship for about 2.5 million immigrants living in the U.S. The pathway would be available to those who were brought into the country illegally as children and those who have come for humanitarian reasons.
- Under this bill, the Homeland Security Department and the Justice Department would provide permanent resident status to people who meet specific qualifications.
- It would provide a path to citizenship to immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before Jan. 1, 2021, were under the age of 18 at the time, and meet other criteria.
- The bill would also offer a pathway to citizenship to immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a designation given to those who come from countries in crisis.
The big picture: The passage comes as the Biden administration wrestles with the soaring number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the Southern border.
- The Border Patrol referred 321 children per day to custody by the Health and Human Services department in the week ending on March 1, according to documents obtained by Axios.
What to watch: Democrats hope to get 10 Republican senators to back the legislation and reach the 60-vote filibuster-proof threshold, but they face an uphill battle.
- Democrats want to use the budget reconciliation process, which allows for bills to pass the Senate with a simple majority, to pass immigration reform.
- Approximately three-quarters of U.S. adults support granting permanent residency to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
- A similar bill previously passed the House with 7 Republican votes.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.