Kamala Harris promises to introduce citizenship bill for 11 million undocumented migrants

US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on December 29 promised to bring a bill to Congress with a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people in the country. While taking to Twitter, Harris said that her first priority after assuming the office would be to save lives from the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. She also vowed to join the Paris climate agreement from which the Trump administration had withdrawn earlier. 

READ: Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff Receive First Dose Of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Live On TV

‘Dreamers’ act 

The term ‘Dreamers’ refers to immigrant youth who qualify for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The programme gives temporary protection to undocumented migrants, who arrived in the United States as children, to live and work in the US without our fear of deportation. Previously, the Trump administration had planned to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme created by the Obama administration to give temporary, renewable protections to these young migrants. 

However, back in November, a federal judge in New York rejected the outgoing administration’s limitations on Dreamers. The US district judge ruled that Trump’s Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf assumed his position unlawfully and the ruling invalidated Wolf’s suspension of DACA. 

READ: Kamala Harris And Husband Donate To Toys For Tots

Paris agreement 

Paris agreement, on the other hand, was drafted in 2015 to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change. The Trump administration had abandoned it formally on November 4 after announcing in it 2017. Trump has repeatedly criticised the agreement for the deteriorating economy and claimed that the pact meant to take claimed action, could cost the United States 2.5 million jobs by 2025. 

However, now that the US can still attend negotiations and present its opinions and is relegated to observer status, Biden had said that his administration will increase the ambition of the American domestic climate target and put the country on a sustainable path to achieve net-zero emissions before 2050. This year, while the world marked the five-year anniversary of the 2015 Paris Agreement, Biden said he would rejoin the pack on the first day of his presidency. 

READ: Alex Padilla To Replace Kamala Harris In Senate, Will Be First Latino Senator

READ: Kamala Harris, Ivanka Trump Making Appeals To Georgia Voters