Immigration Reform: Parole and Work Permits for Long-Term Residents: Benefits, Eligible and Ineligible immigrants.
BBB would authorize (or require) the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to temporarily provide a legal status known as “parole” to any noncitizen in the United States (including both illegal immigrants and legal temporary workers and their families) who meets the bill's eligibility criteria.
Eligible immigrants:
Applicants must only prove that they have “continuously resided” in the United States since before January 1, 2011 (i.e. since at least December 31, 2010). DHS currently uses two different definitions of “continuous residence.” For naturalization purposes, “continuous residence” would typically exclude absence from the United States of more than 1 year and exclude absences of more than 6 months but less than a year unless the applicant can prove they maintained residence here. For Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and the green card registry programs, the government excludes absences that are “brief, innocent, or casual."
Population size:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that 6.5 million noncitizens would receive parole. The Center for American Progress’s Philip E. Wolgin, Nicole Prchal Svajlenka, and Claudia Flores estimate that these provisions would allow 7.1 million undocumented immigrants to apply. The Center for Migration Studies puts the number of undocumented immigrants who could qualify at 6.3 million. None of the estimates specifically say how many legal temporary workers, students, and other legally present temporary residents could apply, though the CBO estimate appears to include them. A couple hundred thousand is a reasonable guess (though other provisions of the bill might benefit them more).
Duration of status:
DHS would have to start accepting applications status 180 days after the date of enactment. If it were enacted in January 1, 2022, the first applications could be received by about July 1, 2022, and based on current processing times, most applications would not be approved before July 1, 2023, and the parole status would expire September 30, 2031. Therefore, BBB would probably provide the normal applicant only about 8 years and 3 months of guaranteed legal status and employment authorization. What would happen next is unpredictable. A future administration could potentially extend parole for those who entered without inspection under its existing authority under section 212(a)(5)(A) of the INA. It could also create a parole readmission program for the parolees under this program who were inspected and admitted.
Benefits:
Parolees under this program would receive legal status and work authorization for the duration of the program. They would also be allowed to apply for state driver’s licenses. Anyone who is married to a U.S. citizen, is the parent of an adult U.S. citizen, or is the minor child of a U.S. citizen could immediately adjust to legal permanent residence after receiving parole because being “paroled” removes the illegal entry bar to adjusting to permanent residence. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that 3 million would gain permanent residence after receiving parole.
Ineligible immigrants:
Anyone establishing residence in the United States after December 31, 2010 would be excluded. The normal criminal and security bars and waivers to them would apply. Immigrants are ineligible if they are barred from admission to the United States for torture, genocide, terrorism, material support for terrorism without duress, recruitment of child soldiers, money laundering, severe human trafficking, smuggling of illegal immigrants, polygamists, international child abductors, unlawful voters, and any violator of any drug law (except for a single conviction for simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana). Those with multiple criminal convictions with aggregate sentences of more than 5 years, offenses involving prostitution in the last ten years, or anyone who has committed a crime “involving moral turpitude” would also be presumptively banned. Moral turpitude is defined at the local level, but common crimes include murder, rape, aggravated or sexual assault, robbery, burglary, drugged driving, drunk driving with a suspended license, voluntary manslaughter, spousal violence, child abuse, and welfare or check fraud.
Waivers:
Except for murderers or torturers, applicants may request a waiver for crimes involving moral turpitude and multiple criminal convictions if the applicant can show a denial would cause "extreme hardship" to their spouse, parent, son, or daughter who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, or if the offense was more than 15 years ago and they were rehabilitated to the satisfaction of the government.
https://www.cato.org/
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