As part of a burst of activity on Day One of his new administration, President Joe Biden has called for sweeping changes—through a总统指令and proposed legislation—to overhaul federal immigration policy. These would include a new path to citizenship for undocumented workers and a strengthening of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

据估计，建筑行业中有成千上万的无证件员工。

Biden on Jan. 20 signed a presidential memorandum directing the US Dept. of Homeland Security to take actions to “preserve and fortify" DACA. The program provides a temporary shield against deportation for Dreamers, undocumented people who immigrated to the U.S. as children and since then have studied and worked here for years.

The DACA program withstood Trump administration attempts to end it and scored a U.S. Supreme Court victory. But a Biden administration background document, explaining the reason for the new directive, states that “those opposed to DACA continue to challenge the program, threatening its continuance.”

Biden also proposed comprehensive immigration legislation, which would let undocumented people apply for temporary legal status—a green card—after five years, if they clear criminal and national security background checks and pay their taxes.

Under the proposed bill, Dreamers—along with individuals who have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and certain immigrant farmworkers would be on an even faster track—would be eligible for green cards right away.

TPS applies to immigrants to the U.S. from countries such as El Salvador and South Sudan that have experienced armed conflicts, hurricanes or other natural disasters or epidemics.

AGC发言人Brian Turmail在接受采访时说，美国的一般承包商支持了无证件工人的法律地位的途径，对Biden的移民计划的“感兴趣和概念支持”。

Turmail says Biden's proposed path to citizenship “goes a little bit further than where we’ve been, but we’re certainly open to the idea.”

他说，AGC希望看到移民立法还包括一项计划，为寻求建筑业就业的移民提供临时工作签证。

吉米·威廉姆斯通用副总裁ternational Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), says the Biden directive and proposed legislation are “enormous steps in the right direction for the construction workforce in general.”

尤其是，威廉姆斯（Williams）看到了TPS下的建筑工人的好处。他在接受采访时说：“他们可以松了一口气。”由于特朗普政府的TPS回滚，威廉姆斯说：“这些工人在过去的几年中一直在恐惧中工作，因为他们在“阴影中工作”。”

IUPAT has many members in the TPS program. He says that in California and the MidAtlantic region, “We've had local unions that were 90 to 95% TPS recipients.”

威廉姆斯认为临时签证没有在行业中“适当地”使用。他说，他们经常与个别雇主息息相关。代表工人申请签证的个别雇主的“我们已经看到了可怕，可怕的例子”。“我可以告诉你我所见过的事情的恐怖故事，工人被迫生活在人室里。”

他补充说：“我见过武装警卫护送工人到工作现场。没有人知道[工人]得到什么。”

Williams suggests that an industry-wide visa program might be a possibility, but adds that it should be tied into Davis-Bacon or other prevailing-wage programs.

威廉姆斯说，需要的是联邦立法有关全面移民变更的立法。

Turmail说，AGC还希望看到一项颁布的法案“最少为无证工人提供法律地位的道路”，以及建筑工作签证。

但是，他说，一项全面的法案是“重型提升”。多年来，许多移民提​​案已经在国会山上浮动，没有成功。

Turmail指出：“在过去的20年中，我们已经多次走这条路。”“几乎所有的石头和卵石都在这个问题上隐藏了一个地雷。”

One inauspicious signal came from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). just hours after Biden talked about unity in his inaugural address, McCarthy issued a statement saying that “it's unfortunate that the first legislative plan that will be sent to Congress by President Biden, along with one of the first presidential actions, will prioritize help for illegal immigrants and not our fellow citizens.”

故事于2010年1月1日纠正，说美国的AGC支持了一条法律地位的途径。新利18备用Enr的原始版本错误地说了“公民身份的途径”。