What legislative proposals under Biden aimed to curb deportations and protect Dreamers?
Executive summary
President Biden pursued both administrative actions and supported legislative efforts intended to curb deportations and protect Dreamers: his administration issued a 2022 regulation to fortify DACA and later announced executive measures in June 2024 expanding protections for Dreamers and undocumented spouses and easing access to employment visas for DACA recipients [1] [2]. Congressional proposals during his term and afterward — notably the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act of 2025 and other bills like Senator Alex Padilla’s Registry/“Renewing Immigration Provisions” proposal and the bipartisan America’s CHILDREN/Documented Dreamers protections — aimed to create a pathway to permanent status for Dreamers and prevent “aging out” deportations [3] [4] [5].
1. Biden’s administrative strategy: rulemaking to shore up DACA and new executive measures
The administration chose regulation and executive actions as primary tools when Congress stalled: a 2022 Biden regulation sought to strengthen the legal footing of DACA, and the White House announced June 2024 actions expanding protections to Dreamers and undocumented spouses while streamlining routes to employment-based visas for DACA recipients [1] [2]. Supporters framed these as urgent, pragmatic moves to protect hundreds of thousands while Congress debated permanent fixes [2]. Opponents challenged the legality of rulemaking in court — a 2025 appeals-court decision rejected aspects of Biden’s DACA-fortifying regulation, reflecting judicial limits on administrative fixes [1].
2. Congressional legislative proposals: pathway bills and “aging out” fixes
Multiple pieces of legislation have been advanced to lock in protections legislatively. The American Dream and Promise Act (reintroduced in 2025) is a bipartisan bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and could potentially cover up to 2.7 million Dreamers plus 400,000 TPS recipients according to Migration Policy Institute analysis cited by advocates [3] [6]. Separate congressional efforts address “Documented Dreamers” — children of long-term visa holders who risk losing dependent status at 21 — with bipartisan bills such as America’s CHILDREN proposed to protect over 250,000 in that category [5] [7].
3. Senate and individual lawmaker initiatives: registry reform and broader pathways
Senator Alex Padilla advanced proposals that aim beyond narrow DACA fixes: his “Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929” would update the Registry statute to let many immigrants — including Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers — qualify for lawful permanent resident status, potentially helping millions [4]. Padilla also urged the President to use executive authority while pressing Congress for permanent solutions, which illustrates the dual-track strategy some Democrats pursued [4].
4. What these measures would and would not do — scope and limits
Legislative proposals like the American Dream and Promise Act would create permanent statutory status and pathways to citizenship for Dreamers, whereas administrative steps (regs and executive orders) can provide temporary relief but are vulnerable to lawsuits and future administrations’ rollbacks; that vulnerability was demonstrated when courts struck down parts of Biden’s regulatory effort [1] [2]. Available sources do not mention every proposed bill’s exact eligibility thresholds or implementation timelines in detail; for those specifics, the legislative texts and committee analyses would be required [3] [6].
5. Political dynamics and bipartisan claims
Many of the bills cited are described as bipartisan and enjoy wide co-sponsorship (the American Dream and Promise Act reportedly had 201 bipartisan cosponsors in 2025) — a messaging advantage advocates use to argue for feasibility [8]. Yet court challenges to administrative steps and the repeated need to reintroduce legislation show that despite bipartisan framing, durable law requires sustained congressional passage and executive cooperation [3] [1].
6. Advocacy, analyses, and unresolved questions
Immigration advocacy groups and policy shops emphasize the scale of potential beneficiaries and press for Congress to act, noting administrative moves can help but not replace statute [6] [2]. Key unresolved issues in available reporting include the precise number of Dreamers definitively shielded by each administrative step and detailed implementation mechanics of visa-streamlining promises — those specifics are not found in the current reporting [2] [9].
Taken together, Biden-era efforts combined agency rulemaking, executive policy changes, and support for congressional bills as complementary strategies: legislation like the American Dream and Promise Act or registry reform would create permanent protections, while executive actions provided interim relief that courts have at times limited [3] [4] [1] [2].