President Joe Biden campaigned on providing a pathway to citizenship to around 11 million people who were living illegally in the U.S. 

The president can't change immigration laws; Congress must do that. So, on his first day in office, Biden proposed a bill that would create a road map to citizenship for the millions of people in the U.S. illegally. Although Democrats narrowly controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate during Biden's first two years, the bill stalled.

Three years later, in February 2024, Biden supported an immigration bill a bipartisan group of senators had sponsored that focused on border security and did not include a pathway to citizenship. The measure sought to raise the initial asylum screening standard and created an emergency power to essentially deny asylum to people crossing the U.S. border between ports of entry. 

The bill failed to pass the Senate twice. President-elect Donald Trump urged its demise. 

In June 2024, Biden announced a policy change that would help people, who are in the U.S. illegally, get citizenship if they were married to or the children of U.S. citizens. 

That's because although being an immediate relative of, or married to, a U.S. citizen are among the limited ways people can gain permanent residency and eventual citizenship, people who entered the U.S. illegally and have these familial connections face life-altering barriers to acquiring that privilege: They must leave the U.S. and reenter legally to get permanent residency. But because they lived in the U.S. illegally, when they leave the country, immigration law bans them from reentering the U.S. for up to 10 years. 

Biden's program includes "parole in place," a protection to let people who qualify stay in the U.S. as they apply for permanent residency. (Three years after getting permanent residency, people can apply for citizenship.) 

The White House said the policy, if adopted, would help 500,000 spouses and 50,000 stepchildren of U.S. citizens. However, Texas sued the Biden administration to stop it, and in November, a federal judge ruled the program illegal.

Biden did not provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are illegally in the U.S. 

We rate this Promise Broken.

Border officials have encountered a historically high number of immigrants crossing the border illegally during President Joe Biden's administration. These record-breaking statistics have been used to criticize Biden's management of the border and to impeach his Department of Homeland Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. They've also derailed some of the promises Biden made during his 2020 presidential campaign. 

Biden promised to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. On his first day in office, Biden proposed a bill that would have done that, but the bill didn't go anywhere. Three years later, the promise remains unfulfilled.

In February, a bipartisan group of senators unveiled an immigration bill intended to reduce illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden said he would sign it into law if it reached his desk. 

But the bill, which failed in the Senate with a 49-50 vote, did not include a path to citizenship for people living in the U.S. illegally. Instead, it sought to raise the initial asylum screening standard and created an emergency power to essentially deny asylum to people crossing the U.S. border between ports of entry. 

The prospect of Biden signing a bill granting a pathway to citizenship seems unlikely in a Republican-controlled House. We'll continue to monitor this promise, but for now, we rate it Stalled.

President Joe Biden's chances of signing legislation that fulfills his promise to provide a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally have dwindled now that Republicans control the House of Representatives. 

On his first day in office, Biden proposed the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 to provide a citizenship path for farmworkers and immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children and for beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status. House Democrats introduced the bill in February 2021, but it did not advance.

Because budgetary bills don't require a 60-vote majority in the Senate, Democrats set their sights on the fiscal year 2022 spending bill as an avenue to pass a pathway to citizenship for the same group of immigrants in the 2021 citizenship act. But the Senate's parliamentarian, who decides what can and cannot be included in the budget reconciliation process, ruled against the Democrats' three attempts to include immigration reform in the bill. 

After the November midterm elections, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., introduced an immigration bill that would have strengthened border security and provided a path to citizenship for some immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. The proposal, which would have needed 60 votes, did not advance to the Senate floor.

After visiting the southwest border Jan. 9, a bipartisan group of senators — including Cornyn and Sinema — said they would once again discuss an immigration bill. But with Republicans in charge of the House, the possibilities of a bill granting a path to citizenship are limited, said Theresa Cardinal Brown, managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Republicans in Congress are pushing for more resources and security at the border, while Democrats seek paths to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. But neither party has enough votes to pass the bills they want.

"The bridge between the parties on some of these issues has grown wider and harder to make the necessary negotiations and concessions to get enough votes from the other party to pass legislation," Cardinal Brown said.

Immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children are more likely to benefit from legislation, said Cardinal Brown. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have generally expressed support for this group of immigrants. The U.S. Supreme Court this year is expected to rule on the legality of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects certain young immigrants from deportation.

The possibility of a bill providing 11 million immigrants with a path to citizenship is limited, especially with Republican control of the House.

We rate this promise Stalled.

Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to advance President Joe Biden's campaign promise to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the United States illegally.

The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 would offer an expedited three-year path to citizenship to some farmworkers, so-called Dreamers (immigrants who arrived here illegally when they were children) and people who currently benefit from a Temporary Protected Status designation.

Including spouses and minor children of the eligible immigrants, nearly 3.3 million people would be on track for the expedited path to citizenship, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

Other immigrants without legal authorization to be in the country would be on a longer, eight-year path to citizenship, provided they pass background checks and pay taxes.

The congressional effort is led by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif. In a Feb. 18 statement, Biden applauded the proposal.

"I look forward to working with leaders in the House and Senate to address the wrongdoings of the past administration and restore justice, humanity and order to our immigration system," Biden said. "This is an important first step in pursuing immigration policies that unite families, grow and enhance our economy, and safeguard our security."

We did not find statements from Republicans in Congress publicly supporting the proposal.

Republican lawmakers have previously expressed support for a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the country as children. But Republicans have been more reluctant to support a bill that benefits a broader group of immigrants. Rep. John Katko, the top Republican in the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the new bill fell short on border security and called it "more of a symbolic marker than a viable product for congressional debate."

Beyond providing a pathway to citizenship, the bill also seeks to reduce visa backlogs, eliminate per-country admission caps, get rid of the one-year deadline for filing asylum claims, and expand access to some visas, including the U visa available to victims of certain crimes who assist law enforcement investigations.

The bill also aims to advance another Biden campaign promise to help Central American nations address the factors driving migrants out of their countries. The proposal calls for funding to improve infrastructure at ports of entry and to secure the border through the use of technology.

Whether the bill gains enough support to become a law is still to be determined. For now, given the introduction of the proposal in Congress, we rate this promise In the Works.