A hundred Democratic congressmen led by the Hispanic Caucus asked this Saturday that the House of Representatives offer a path to citizenship to essential undocumented workers, dreamers and beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS, for its acronym in English) within the package of economic aid negotiated to alleviate the coronavirus crisis.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers intend to advance their $ 1.9 trillion bill on Monday, which could require the use of reconciliation [a congressional legislative process that accelerates the passage of certain budget legislation in the Senate] without Party support. Republican.
In addition, 10 Republican senators presented this Sunday a counterposition of 600,000 million dollars, and requested a meeting with the president, Joe Biden, to negotiate it.
“As you continue to work on your COVID-19 relief package and begin work on an economic recovery and jobs package, we urge you to include a path to citizenship for essential immigrant workers, dreamers, and TPS recipients as well. like their families, "the group of Democrats wrote in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and the Chairman of the Budget Committee, John Yarmuth, which they first shared with the informative website Politico.
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"The inclusion of these protections is not only a necessity for economic recovery, it is an issue of economic and racial justice
for the communities that have been the most vulnerable to the crisis and were left out of the previous aid packages," they added.
Demonstration in support of the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in San Diego, California, on June 18, 2020.Sandy Huffaker / AFP via Getty Images
In the middle of this month, Vice President Kamala Harris stated that the Biden Administration will focus on reducing wait times to obtain citizenship and granting
immediate
green cards
to DACA beneficiaries and undocumented immigrants protected by other programs such as the TPS.
To face these measures, Harris said that the new government "has plans" to present to Congress an immigration reform bill with which it also intends to strengthen the staff of immigration judges to expedite the hearings of asylum seekers.
But they have recognized that the main goal is progress, so they are open to pushing parts of the reform gradually through Congress, while pushing for a big bill.
Immigrant activists have supported providing multiple avenues for immigration reform.
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“Members of Congress understand that that promise must be fulfilled with action, and the concrete action at this time is to legalize essential workers as part of the economic recovery,” stated Lorella Praeli, president of Community Change Action, which defines itself as a national advocacy organization for low-income people, especially black and Latino.
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More than 100 advocacy groups involved in the We Are Home campaign, which calls for rights for immigrants, urged lawmakers to push for the inclusion of legal protections in the COVID-19 crisis relief package.
The path to citizenship would apply to some five million undocumented immigrants who are essential workers.
Rep. Joaquín Castro, a Texas Democrat and former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is working on a separate bill that would allow essential undocumented workers to apply for permanent resident status.
Under the bill, those workers would be eligible to apply for citizenship in five years.
Castro stated on Saturday that he is "optimistic that it will be included in the COVID-19 relief package."
With information from Politico.