DACA in 2021

There is cause for cautious optimism. Democrats are two seats away from taking control of all the arms of Legislative body. The two senate seats in Georgia are up for grabs in a runoff election on January 5. If Democrats take both, the Senate will split equally between them and Republicans giving its control to Democrats after next Vice President Kamala Harris breaks the tie in her party's favor. 

Democrats, most importantly, can then set Senate's agenda and bring to floor bills that are critical to the party's narrative - including immigration reform bill in some shape or form. They will still need a filibuster-proof (that is, the support of at least 10 Republican Senators) but given Biden's experience, moderate stance in political arena and goodwill he has acquired from long-term  Republicans such as Lindsey Graham and even Mitch McConnell, this is not going to be as tough as it was for former President Barack Obama. 

With Biden, Schumer,  and Pelosi overseeing the three bodies, there is good reason to believe that even when Democrats can technically change the Senate rules without Republican support, they will not seek the abolishment of filibuster. The three stalwarts are well rattled by McConnell's answer to then-Leader Reid's decision to repeal filibuster proof majority rule in confirming federal judges below Supreme Court. A flood of confirmations from Obama for federal bench had ensued with absolute zero support of Republicans. "Democrats will rue the day" McConnell had said rightly so. McConnell, upon becoming the Majority Leader, pushed this rule to include Supreme Court nominees and ended up with three new Supreme Court judges of his liking, essentially shifting the balance to conservatives for generations! 

We can, therefore, expect a more traditional, less rancorous, approach to legislation in 2021. Regardless of what happens on January 5, Biden (along with Schumer and Pelosi) will most likely be able to brokerage a moderate immigration plan with friends on the other side of the aisle. DACA recipients, however, can be certain that an immigration plan will be brought to floor of the senate by March 2021 if January 5th witnesses Democratic landslide win.  

And this will be the bill that can actually pass both houses! It will not be a green card handout for all undocumented immigrants - that's not possible in current political atmosphere - but it will certainly include existing 700K DACA recipients and maybe others who will become eligible in future. It may even extend to a larger population with similar stories. Republicans will get some as well - concrete border security plans, restrictions on family sponsorships, merit-based immigration changes, to state the few. 

If things fall into place and immigration reform of some sort is passed, the most important question would be the procedure to get permanent residency and processing times involved. 

Some parallels can be drawn between the administration process that DED Liberian recipients have to follow to gain permanent residency and what possibly DACA recipients may have to follow if a law is passed in their favor. 

DED Liberian recipients, to give some context, were given temporary protected status (much like DACA) and few years later an omnibus bill was passed with a provision that granted path to permanent residency for them (approximately few thousand). The administration - this is Trump's administration - used the existing I-485 (adjustment of status) channel for this purpose. This meant there were no additional petitions that were involved in this process (like I-130, I-140, etc.) before adjustment of status maybe requested. Adjustment of Status maybe requested under the "Other Eligibility" category (applicants need to enter "LRIF" in the text box) and follow rest of the general application! 

There is good reason to believe that all DACA recipients would have to do is enter "DACA" for "Other Eligibility".  After all DACA, like LRIF, is also a deferred action and applicants have a well established paper trail with the government (every 2 years, DACA recipients must file for renewals and show that they meet requirements). This will cut down the processing times to months and not years! 

There is reason for cautious optimism. Path to permanent residency for DACA recipients has never been clearer. One issue - Congress's track record!