Congress Quietly Gave Liberians a Path to Citizenship
After living in limbo for decades, about 4,000 Liberians can now apply for green cards in the US
Liberians who have lived in the US with temporary legal status for decades now have a path to citizenship — under a provision quietly folded into a $738 billion defense policy bill that President Donald Trump signed earlier this month.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Thursday that it started accepting green card applications for Liberians who have lived in the US since November 2014, as well as their spouses and unmarried children. After holding a green card for five years, eligible Liberians can apply for US citizenship.
Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Tina Smith (D-MN) had originally proposed the legislation offering green cards to Liberians as an individual bill, before it was tacked on to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In an era of deadlocked immigration policy, this marks the first time in decades that Congress has offered a pathway to citizenship to a new group of immigrants.
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