President-elect Joseph R. Biden is proposing a significant increase in legal immigration as part of his new legislation that would also legalize most illegal immigrants.
The bill, which Mr. Biden will send to Congress after he is sworn in Wednesday, would be the most generous immigration policy in U.S. history, wiping away barriers for illegal immigrants to integrate into American society.
He wants to end the bar that requires those who have been in the country for some time without permission to go home and wait 10 years before being able to come in legally.
And Mr. Biden would create an opportunity for people who have been deported under President Trump to request to be allowed back into the country.
The bill is light on new security measures, instead focusing on leniency and reversing the direction Mr. Trump had set.
Where Mr. Trump had proposed ending the diversity lottery that doles out visas on the basis of luck, Mr. Biden is proposing a nearly 50% expansion of that program.
The crux of the bill is a generous legalization program for most of the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the country.
It would grant immediate legal status to illegal immigrant Dreamers and those here under special humanitarian protections.
Other illegal immigrants would have to go through a process with a five-year weight before obtaining a green card signifying permanent legal status.