Senate Republicans are likely to block Biden’s proposal, so let’s concentrate on protecting as many people as possible without a comprehensive bill.

By Jorge Ramos

Mr. Ramos is a contributing opinion writer and an anchor for the Univision network.

MIAMI — It was 5 a.m. on Jan. 20. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris hadn’t even been sworn in, and yet the incoming administration had just published its plan for an ambitious immigration reform bill. Mr. Biden was fulfilling his pledge to send to Congress, within his first 100 days as president, a bill that would give the nation’s nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants a road map to citizenship.

But for Latinos, who make up roughly half of America’s overall immigrant population, — the fear is that the Biden-Harris plan will turn out to be yet another false hope.

We’ve seen many immigration reform efforts fail in recent years. In 2005, Senator John McCain sponsored a bill with bipartisan support that included provisions for the legalization of undocumented people, but it went nowhere. In 2006, Congress was unable to come to an agreement on the different immigration reform bills passed by in Senate and the House.

Another reform plan was discussed in the Senate in 2007, but never voted on. In 2013, the Senate passed a major immigration bill, heavily supported by a bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Eight, but John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House at the time, cruelly blocked the bill from ever coming to a vote.

The last time a significant immigration reform package was passed was in 1986, under Ronald Reagan. Three million undocumented people received what at the time was called “amnesty.” But the bill failed to both integrate these immigrants into American society and stop millions more from coming in.

Undocumented immigrants living in the United States create jobs and pay over $11 billion a year in state and local taxes. These immigrants, including the so-called Dreamers, are full-fledged Americans, even though they don’t have the official documents to prove it. That’s why protecting them is so important.

President Biden’s new proposal allows undocumented people to apply for green cards after five years, as long as they pay their taxes and pass criminal and national-security background checks. After three more years, those who demonstrate knowledge of English and meet other requirements can apply to become citizens.

“This is the most wide-ranging plan I’ve seen in the many years I’ve been fighting for immigration reform,” Senator Bob Menendez told me in a recent interview. He expects to introduce the proposal in the Senate in the next few weeks.

Which is precisely when all hope will be lost.

While the Biden-Harris bill should be able to pass the Democratic-led House, in such a polarized country, it will be almost impossible for the 50 Senate Democrats to find 10 Republicans willing to help them overcome the filibuster and pass a bill on a controversial topic like immigration.

Even if Democrats manage to eliminate the filibuster and get their immigration reform bill passed with a simple majority, problems will still emerge.

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