US Congress asked to update 'woefully outdated' immigration system

Washington: The Biden administration has asked the Congress to update the woefully outdated immigration system, the White House said Monday.

"As we have said many times before, this is an outdated immigration system. We've asked the Congress to update our woefully outdated immigration system. We've been very clear on that, including, including the temporary visa programmes that haven't been updated in more than two decades," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.

Under the current regulations, workers on certain temporary visas usually have 60 days to secure new employment, pursue a different visa classification or make preparations to depart the United States.

"So, the Congress needs to do their job and pass legislation, updating our immigration laws to reflect the needs of where we are, where we are currently in this 21st century economy," she said.

On the first day of his administration, President Joe Biden put forth an immigration reform legislation because he took this very seriously, the White House Press Secretary said.

He wanted to make sure that was the first piece of legislation that he put forward on Day One because "this is such a broken system", Jean-Pierre said in response to a question.