The House of Representatives is poised to pass two immigration reform bills on Thursday that would create a path to citizenship for up to half of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the US.

The two bills — benefiting farm workers, people brought illegally to the US as minors and refugees with temporary status — are expected to pass the House, but they face an uphill battle in the Senate, where 60 votes generally are needed for bills.

“The legislation that we will vote on today will cover almost half, or maybe as much as half, of the undocumented people that we have in our country today,” said Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) at a Thursday press conference.

President Biden tweeted his support for the bills, which are part of an attempted piecemeal approach to his larger proposed immigration overhaul. 

Republicans blame Biden’s Mexico border policies and his proposed reform legislation for creating new “pull” factors for migration, resulting in a surge in new illegal immigration in February.

Biden added: “I urge Congress to come together to find long term solutions to our entire immigration system so we can create a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system, tackle the root causes of migration and legalize the undocumented population in the United States.”

A comprehensive bill is considered unlikely to pass the House due to disagreement among Democrats, who hold a slim eight-seat advantage.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Thursday that the legislation “ignores the problem, but will actually worsen the situation” at the border.

“During a press conference this morning, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi had a sign up that said ‘Home is here.’ This is the wrong message at the wrong time,” he said.

McCarthy accused Biden of sparking the crisis, citing his remark on a 2019 Democratic debate stage that “I would in fact make sure that there is — we immediately surge to the border all those people seeking asylum, they deserve to be heard.”

“At the very first presidential debate, what did Joe Biden say? He said illegal immigrants should ‘immediately surge to the border.’ What did he think would happen when he said that?” McCarthy said.

A group of House Republicans rolled out an alternative immigration plan this week.

The Dignity Plan proposed by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) would provide legal status for young people eligible for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants work permits and protection from deportation to people brought illegally to the US as children.

Salazar said she supports the two Democratic bills, but her rival package prioritizes border security, requiring the federal government to provide funding for “an impenetrable border infrastructure system that should include enhanced physical barriers, employing the most up-to-date technology, and securing our ports of entry.”

The GOP legislation also provides a 10-year path to legal status for non-felon immigrants, while cracking down on abuse in the asylum system and improving processing for those fleeing persecution.

Additionally, it “enhances enforcement of immigration laws” to “ensure criminals are removed immediately.”

The Democrats’ American Dream and Promise Act — up for a vote Thursday — would apply to young people brought illegally to the US as children as well as most of the roughly 400,000 people living in the US with Temporary Protected Status as of 2017. It creates a 10-year conditional status before the person can apply for citizenship.

There are roughly 643,000 current beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — created in 2012 by President Barack Obama — after the program was closed to new applicants under President Donald Trump. But the new status for young people is believed to apply to many more people.

The Migration Policy Institute estimates the American Dream and Promise Act would benefit up to 4.4 million eligible people. The bill’s House sponsors estimated a smaller figure — 2.5 million — in a press release this month.

As of October, the US granted Temporary Protected Status to approximately 411,000 people from 10 countries, according to the Congressional Research Service. TPS status shields approved applicants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It recently was expanded to cover Venezuelan exiles.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, also up for a House vote Thursday, creates a new two-year temporary residency status for agricultural workers. The Certified Agricultural Worker status could be renewed indefinitely so long as the recipient continued to work.

Farm workers who pay a fine of $1,000 could gain a green card after 10 years of work. Green-card holders generally can apply for citizenship after five years.

The number of farm workers who would qualify is unclear because workers often have false identification documents. Government and nonprofit estimates vary but are in the ballpark of 1 million people.

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) quoted the rapper Notorious B.I.G. at the pre-vote Democratic press conference on the bills.

“Let me be clear, our current immigration system is broken. And to coin a phrase of another very distinguished Jamaican American, the Notorious B.I.G., ‘If you don’t know, now you know,'” Clarke said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lamented that rainy weather moved the press conference indoors.

“Weather permitting, we would have been on the steps of the Capitol to say to the world that we are making a very big difference in how we respect the beautiful diversity of America, how we respect the fact that immigration is the constant reinvigoration of America,” she said.

The immigration overhauls will have trouble passing the evenly divided Senate, where a 60-vote supermajority is needed for most legislation.

The Dream Act, which would have shielded young people brought to the country illegally as children, died in a 55-41 Senate vote in 2010, with five Democrats including current Sen. Jon Tester of Montana voting against it.