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President Joe Biden will praise Vice President Kamala Harris for her work on border diplomacy in his address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night where he also will call on lawmakers to pass his immigration proposal.
Biden's plan, unveiled in March from Democratic lawmakers, includes an eight-year path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, eliminates restrictions on family-based immigration, expands worker visas, and includes funding for security updates at the border.
But the immigration issue remains a divisive one amid a surge in migrant crossings at the Southern border.
© Provided by Daily MailPresident Biden, in his joint address to Congress, will praise Vice President Kamala Harris for her work on border diplomacy
Republicans claim it's the result of Biden rolling back President Donald Trump's restrictive policies and have criticized Harris for not visiting the border region.
The White House has defended Harris, noting she's in charge of addressing the root causes of migration and the underlying reasons sending migrants from the Northern Triangle countries - Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador - to the United States.
Biden is expected to applaud her for her work in his remarks, The Washington Post reported.
Harris does plan to visit Central America in June. Additionally, she held a virtual meeting on Monday with the president of Guatemala and meet virtually with community groups from the country on Tuesday.
Biden's immigration push comes amid a surge of migrants at the Southern border.
According to Customs and Border Patrol data, the number of immigrants apprehended along the southern border jumped from 96,974 in February to 168,195 in March.
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The last time single-month apprehensions were that high was in March of 2001. Additionally in March, CBP apprehended 18,656 unaccompanied minors at the southern border, a record since at least October 2009 and double February's numbers.
Republicans see the issue as one they can use to make in roads with voters in the 2022 midterms.
Asylum-seeking migrants cross the Rio Grande River at the border with Mexico in Roma, Texas, as the number of immigrants surges
© Provided by Daily Mail The president also will push Congress to act on immigration but a comprehensive measure could be difficult given the narrow Democratic margin in the House and the fact Biden will need 10 Republican votes in the Senate to move any legislation forward.
Therefore, one administration official told The Post, Biden will instead push for a more targeted bill, one that would guarantee a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers, migrants brought to the US as young children by their parents; allow farmworkers already in the country to earn legal status; and ease restrictions on visas for seasonal agricultural workers.
Those proposals passed the House with bipartisan support.
Biden said immigration reform would be one of his top priorities as president but it has fallen by the way side given the COVID pandemic and the focus on rebuilding the American economy.
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