Why the Path to Citizenship Remains Blocked, Why It Matters
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One of the signal stories of 2021 was a narrative of unfulfilled promise: the promise by a new president to open a path to citizenship to 10.2 million immigrants – and the thwarting of that promise by the politics of a particular historical moment. As the story goes, Congress members supporting immigration reform included a path to citizenship in the president’s “Build Back Better” bill. But the Senate parliamentarian nixed the immigration provision, and Senator Joe Manchin subsequently refused to vote for the bill itself, ending all hopes for immigration reform in 2021.