The Harris-Biden administration intended to grant de facto amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants — and potentially allow more than a million deported under former President Trump to return — according to the failed 2021 immigration bill repeatedly touted by Vice President Harris.
The Democratic presidential nominee has repeatedly highlighted the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 as proof of the incumbent administration’s efforts to fix the border crisis.
“At the beginning of our administration, within practically hours of taking the oath, the first bill that we offered Congress . . . was a bill to fix our immigration system,” Harris told Fox News’ Bret Baier during an interview earlier this month. “And our focus has been on fixing a problem.”
But the text of the bill, which was sent to sent to Congress the day Biden assumed office, shows it intended to grant “lawful prospective immigrant status” for anyone deemed eligible, if the applicant was “physically present in the United States on or before January 1, 2021.”
There were more than 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States in 2021, according to the Pew Research Center.
In the years of the Biden-Harris administration an additional 10 million-plus illegals have found their way into the United Sates, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection.
The bill would have also allowed US the Secretary of Homeland Security to “waive the presence requirement for those deported on or after January 20, 2017” if they were physically in the country for three years prior to being deported by the Trump administration.
That clause would open the door to the 1.5 million people deported by Trump being invited to return to the United States.
The bill never made it out of committee in either the House or the Senate.
When Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro asked Harris this week why nobody was talking about “pathways to citizenship” — she responded that she was, suggesting the idea remained on the table.
“I am. I am talking about it,” she said “We need smart, humane immigration policy in America that includes a pathway to citizenship.”
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) said the Biden-Harris bill “did nothing to secure our borders or stop the free flow of fentanyl, criminals and human trafficking. Instead, it would have paved the way for mass amnesty of over 11 million illegal immigrants, in what will always be remembered as one of the most radical immigration bills to ever hit the Senate Floor,” he told The Post.
