Six Democratic Senators – Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mazie Hirono (D-HA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Alex Padilla (D- CA) – introduced draft legislation on Monday, March 7, which, if passed, will provide comprehensive relief to millions of immigrants who are late in issuing their Green Card.

The “Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families (RELIEF) Act” aims to eliminate pending issues family and employment-based green card grants, reclassify spouses and children of lawful permanent residents as immediate relatives, and protect young immigrants who do not qualify at the age to obtain lawful permanent resident status. 

According to a publication by Latino Rebels, Senator Cortez Masto stated: “I urge all my colleagues to support this important, commonsense fix. This bill would provide relief to hardworking families and to employees across the country who are burdened by our green card backlog”.

There are several other senators did not know what the Relief Act was about, according to the publication, hours before it was introduced. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Joe Manchin (D-WV) responded to the Latino Rebels that they were unaware of such a bill.

According to the same publication, Roy Blunt and Joe Manchin said they sympathized with the plight of late immigrants and stated the following:

“There are some kids that actually have to go back to the country their parents brought them here from and then apply to come back, and they’re not included in the Dreamer group. […] I’m pro-Dreamer,” but I’m also for kids who grew up here whose parents were here legally who don’t have the same opportunity to stay in the United States where they grew up”, said Blunt.

Senator Manchin said: “I’d keep those people here in a heartbeat. They’re productive, they can be very helpful, and we need them”. 

However, after the news was released, some groups and people expressed harsh criticism on Twitter of the law's proponents, according to the publication. The Immigration Voice, a group at the forefront of lobbying for relief from the backlog of green card regularization in Congress, issued a statement criticizing the RELIEF Act:

“Senator Durbin has cynically introduced the RELIEF Act, a partisan bill that he knows has no chance of passage so he can deflect blame for his failure to solve the massive problems experienced every day by people in the racist green card backlog”.

“Last session the bi-partisan Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act passed the Senate unanimously and could have been easily used by Senator Durbin as a template for a solution in this Congress. That same bill has been re-introduced in the House as the EAGLE Act”.

“One day, Senator Durbin will have to account for a 30-year Senate career with absolutely no legislative accomplishments that actually helped any immigrants, and he will realize actions like this rather than working to pass proven bipartisan bills are the reason for his failure. And immigrants will know that if a person accomplished nothing for 30 years, that was probably their objective all along”.