7 FEB 2023
Ahead of SOTU, Immigration Hub Calls on Biden and Congress to Make Immigration Reform a Top Priority This Congress
Ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address, Sergio Gonzales, the Executive Director of the Immigration Hub released the following statement:
“As President Biden prepares to address the nation and with just two years remaining in his first term, we urge him to prioritize immigration reform through executive and legislative action. The goal: to modernize a dysfunctional immigration system and ensure it represents the values we hold dear as a nation that was built and made stronger by immigrants.
“The Biden-Harris administration inherited a broken immigration system completely dismantled by Trump’s draconian policies that sought to undermine our asylum system, rip families apart, and terrorize immigrant communities across the country. On Day 1, President Biden signaled and acted on his commitment to build a fair, just, and orderly system.
“The Biden-Harris administration has taken important steps to preserve DACA and protect hard working undocumented immigrants living in the country. However, much more remains to be done to ensure safety and opportunity for these families, especially as the federal courts threaten the DACA program with decisions that will put hundreds of thousands of Dreamers at risk of deportation.
“For example, the administration has extended protections and parole to those who have fled war, humanitarian crises, and life-threatening disasters. President Biden has restored legal immigrationlevels and access to all those eligible, not just the very wealthy. Biden’s administration ordered the end of the public health restrictions abused under the cover of a pandemic to gut our asylum system, and his agencies have focused enforcement resources on public safety threats rather than ordinary workers and loving families.
“Moreover, despite Republican obstruction, the administration has enacted a comprehensive plan to manage migration alongside key partner countries in the Western Hemisphere and put forward numerous efforts to resource DHS and strengthen border infrastructure and legal pathways. In particular, we commend the Vice President for her successful work to address the root causes of migration from Central America which has resulted in historic private and public sector investment into the region and other policy changes that have had a real impact on millions of lives.”
“We applaud the Biden-Harris administration for rolling back the excesses and cruelty of the Trump war on immigrants and refugees, but more must be done to protect the right to asylum and promote safe and humane migration. As we head into the next two years, we call on the administration to move forward with durable solutions that resource, reform and restore asylum – not gut it with an ill-considered transit ban – and to use its executive power more aggressively to protect deeply-rooted immigrants living and working in America.
“In the end, the onus is also on Congress to act on a bipartisan basis to integrate our traditions as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. Thus far, Republican leadership has been far more interested in using immigration as a political talking point than in getting things done. Last year, they had an opportunity to rally around a bipartisan breakthrough in the Senate that would ensure a path to citizenship for our nation’s Dreamers while making billions of dollars of investments at the border. GOP leadership poured cold water on the deal, once again choosing politics over policies.
“Nevertheless, immigration reform remains an urgent necessity for the country. President Biden, we urge you to lead the way. Press Congressional leaders to do the job the Founding Fathers assigned them in the Constitution. Rouse the nation to press their lawmakers to bring our dysfunctional and outdated immigration system into line with our values, our interests and our can-do spirit. This administration’s track record on bipartisan breakthroughs is nothing short of historic. Immigration reform is only impossible if we say so. Let’s make it possible by making it a priority.”
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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.