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Did Tammy Baldwin support offering legal status to 11 million undocumented immigrants?

By Tom Kertscher
YES

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., cosponsored legislation that would have offered legal status — under certain conditions — to an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

One Nation, a dark-money group that doesn’t disclose its donors, claimed Aug. 21, 2024, in an ad that Baldwin supported “amnesty.”

One Nation cited to Wisconsin Watch Baldwin’s 2021 cosponsorship of the U.S. Citizenship Act.

The bill, a Biden administration initiative that did not become law, would have established a path to citizenship.

It would have established a new status of “lawful prospective immigrant” to undocumented immigrants who passed background checks; and, after five years, they could apply for permanent resident status. Other undocumented immigrants, such as those who worked a certain amount of agricultural labor, would have received permanent resident status.

News reports and Baldwin said 11 million people would have qualified.

Baldwin is running against Republican Eric Hovde in the Nov. 5 election.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
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