Immigration protections in Build Back Better bill bring hope to DACA recipients

Carmen Valencia
·Producer
·5 min read

If passed into law, President Biden’s Build Back Better bill would create the largest mass-legalization program for undocumented immigrants in U.S. history. Roughly 7 million of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants currently in the U.S. — including "Dreamers," coronavirus-era essential workers and farmworkers — would be eligible for the new immigration protections.

For Efraín Leal Escalera, a 32-year-old Mexican immigrant who was brought by his family to the U.S. at the age of 7 in 1996, the prospect of the bill’s passage is bittersweet.

“It’s interesting that I’m in the same position of having to continuously prove that I’m worthy of having a work permit, or being able to travel outside the country, and thinking that I’m still not good enough or worthy enough of those privileges,” Escalera told Yahoo News.

Efraín Leal Escalera, Bambi the dog and a photo Escalera took of a praying mantis with a cellphone and a clip-on macro lens.
Efraín Leal Escalera, Bambi the dog and a photo Escalera took of a praying mantis with a cellphone and a clip-on macro lens. (Efraín Escalera)

One of nearly 800,000 Dreamers living in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy enacted in 2012 under then-President Barack Obama, Escalera, who now resides in Denver with his own family, dreams of being able to one day obtain his citizenship.

Under Build Back Better, DACA recipients like Escalera would qualify for work permits, permission to travel abroad, a promise not to be deported and benefits such as a state driver’s license.

“The most popular one — the one everyone is talking about — is giving parole status in five-year increments for up to 10 years to individuals who have been in the country for at least 10 years that don’t have a certain criminal background,” Ray Ybarra Maldonado, an immigration attorney in Arizona, said of the proposed benefits.

A photo of Efraín at the age of 7, when he and his family immigrated to the United States.
Efraín was 7 when he and his family immigrated to the United States. (Efraín Escalera)

To qualify, undocumented immigrants must have arrived in the United States before January 2011 and be able to show proof that they’ve lived here ever since. Five-year work permits will be issued, extending protection through September 2031.

The president’s plan, however, falls well short of a pathway to citizenship, a fact that irks Escalera, who has spent the bulk of his life paying taxes and living in the U.S. “If I have papers or not, we are still contributing in one way or another, small or in big ways. I think those actions and those impacts speak for themselves,” he said.

If Build Back Better passes, and there’s no guarantee that Democrats will secure the votes in the Senate to do so, nearly 65 percent of the undocumented immigrants in the country would be protected from deportation. Still, that leaves a large number unprotected.

“Individuals who have been here for so long, who have contributed so much to our economy, who are helping us get through the pandemic, we’re still cutting them short,” Ybarra told Yahoo News, including those “who came here eight or nine years ago, who don’t have certain documentation to prove that they were here before that timeline.”

Escalera, shown here with his young sister in 1998, dreams of one day obtaining his U.S. citizenship.
Escalera’s dream is to one day obtain his U.S. citizenship. (Efraín Escalera)

A provision in the bill would boost the technology industry’s efforts to recruit foreign-born workers amid labor shortages, as it would increase the availability of green cards. It calls for “repossession” of thousands of unused green cards for the past four decades and making them available to green card applicants.

If passed into law, an estimated 400,000 unused green cards will be recovered, more than half of which are for families and the rest for employers. Republican lawmakers, none of whom support the passage of the bill, argue that provision would hurt American workers.

“At a time when we are actively encouraging students in our home states to work hard, seek STEM skills and aspire to the high-tech jobs of tomorrow, this legislation would create an unending, permanent pipeline of foreign labor for Silicon Valley giants to use in place of aspiring American youth,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., wrote in an op-ed for The Hill.

While the final makeup of Build Back Better continues to be negotiated, the Senate parliamentarian is expected to rule soon on the legality of including the sweeping changes to the immigration system passed in the House version of the legislation. Given that the parliamentarian has already twice rejected including changes to the immigration system in a spending bill, Democrats may, once again, be sent back to the drawing board.

Still, Escalera said he’ll remain hopeful that all Dreamers and the undocumented community could eventually claim victory in the fight for citizenship. Having renewed his DACA status in January, he hopes that come next year he’ll be able to start his citizenship process if the new immigration protections get approved.

“I do feel more hopeful," he said. "This bill is looking a little better than previous bills, so I believe this one could get approved. And then we can get our papers to go to school, to be able to teach, to travel, to do research, to get involved in things that I’ve always dreamed of — that only people that are born in this country are able to do."