13 FEBRUARY 2024
35 Prominent Latino, Civil Rights, Faith And Pro-Immigrant Groups Outline 2024 Immigration Priorities for President Biden in Final Year of First Term
2024 Blueprint Identifies Key Policy Priorities for Biden-Harris Administration to Demonstrate Leadership on Immigration Ahead of Presidential Election
Read the full report here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, 35 prominent Latino, civil rights, faith, and pro-immigrant groups, including UnidosUS, Voto Latino, United We Dream, Mi Familia Vota and Immigration Hub, released a blueprint outlining five critical priorities necessary for the Biden-Harris administration to advance effective and balanced immigration solutions in the final year of its term. As GOP presidential front runner Donald Trump emerges from his latest caucus victory with a cruel anti-immigrant agenda, it is imperative that President Biden offer an alternative vision to 2024 voters eager for solutions that advance humane border security AND legal pathways for long-settled immigrants in the U.S.
Four years ago, President Biden committed to restoring faith in the nation’s immigration system by ending egregious Trump-era policies that separated families, jeopardized the lives of those seeking safety and refuge, and dramatically failed to meet the economic demands of the country. Since then, his administration has made notable progress rescinding or otherwise acting on 330 Trump-era policies, in addition to issuing new policies revising interior enforcement priorities, strengthening the asylum system, and increasing collaboration with nations in the Western Hemisphere. In the absence of bipartisan congressional action, it is incumbent on President Biden to use every tool at his disposal to offer opportunities to Dreamers and long-settled immigrants so that they may continue to legally work and remain in America, while resourcing the nation’s asylum system and addressing the root causes of forced migration.
“We should take what Donald Trump has done and is telling us at face value. Under President Trump, our immigration system nearly collapsed. The atrocities we witnessed during the Trump administration–children torn away from their parents, immigrants cut off from critical lifeline supports, and asylum-seekers blocked from accessing safety–represent only a portion of his dangerous intentions for the nation in 2025. Today, he has vowed to indiscriminately detain and deport Dreamers and immigrants en masse, offering a dark and destructive future where our immigration system will be used as a weapon rather than a pillar of our democracy.
“President Biden must continue to build on his promise to rebuild and strengthen our immigration policies and laws. While the president inherited a mess, he has gradually filled the cracks in our system. The job is far from done. No longer can immigration policy center only on the southern border; it’s time to expand our horizons and ensure that Dreamers and long-settled immigrants can continue working and contributing to our nation. If President Biden can deliver on that vision, he will not only mobilize his coalition, but also cement his legacy as a president who honored the nation’s promise to all those in the pursuit of the American Dream,” said Immigration Hub Executive Director, Kerri Talbot.
“While Congress has once again failed to act to fix our immigration system, there are still steps that can be taken to make the system better,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. “The American people want and deserve solutions and when the Congress won't do its job, the administration should exercise the authority they have to deliver results. This blueprint shows us ways the administration can extend lasting protections to undocumented individuals, including DACA and TPS holders, and stabilize U.S. families and strengthen our economy. The solutions in this report are workable, consistent with our values, and promise to move us closer to achieving reforms that are widely supported by the American people.”
“In the last few years, we’ve witnessed an unprecedented level of deportations, detentions and deaths of Black immigrants. We also saw attacks on the right to seek asylum in ways that disproportionately impact Black migrants,” said Haddy Gassama, Policy and Advocacy Director at UndocuBlack Network. “Now more than ever, it is vital that the Biden-Harris administration make good on their promises to Black immigrant communities. This Blueprint presents the administration with an opportunity to change course, by protecting Black immigrants through: ensuring that Black immigrants have meaningful access to long-lasting immigration relief, stopping the arrest-to-deportation pipeline, guaranteeing due process to detained migrants such as language access, and creating a White House Task Force on Black migration.”
The report’s recommendations include:
Providing Protection and Relief to Keep Immigrant Families Together and Rebuilding the Immigration System. The Biden-Harris administration must use its legal authority to extend the broadest protections to the largest number of individuals, including long-settled populations like Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients, in addition to implementing smart enforcement priorities that keep families together and strengthening processing capacity at USCIS to address backlogs.
Rooting Out Discrimination and Anti-Blackness in the Immigration System. In order to combat racism and discrimination in the system, the administration must protect Haitian and other Black asylum seekers from family separation, abuse in detention, and other barriers to essential services and benefits.
Promoting Safe and Orderly Migration Pathways as Part of Fair, Humane, and Orderly Border Management. It is imperative that the administration aggressively defend existing legal pathways to the U.S. and dramatically improve border management infrastructure and procedures to align with community needs.
Restoring and Strengthening the Asylum and Refugee Systems to Ensure Humane Treatment and Protection. The Biden-Harris administration must better fairly and efficiently process asylum seekers at the southern border and build a resettlement program that is more resilient and equitable, improving the pace and scale of resettlement, upholding asylum law, and avoiding policies that impose barriers to seeking asylum.
Strengthening Collaborative Hemispheric Migration Management, Including on Climate Migration, and Promoting Regional Cooperation. The administration should take a whole-of-government approach to the Americas region, robustly assisting host countries with capacity to provide protection and ensuring the safety and humanity of climate-displaced people.
The 2024 Immigration Priorities: A Blueprint for the Biden-Harris Administration is endorsed by 35 groups, including: Adhikaar for Human Rights & Social Justice, African Communities Together, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Cameroon Advocacy Network, CASA, Center for Law and Social Policy, Church World Service, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Coalition on Human Needs, Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP), Community Change, Congolese Community of Washington Metropolitan (CCWM), Florida Immigrant Coalition, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Hispanic Federation, Human Rights First, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Make the Road New York, Mi Familia Vota, NAKASEC, National Immigrant Justice Center, National LGBTQ Task Force, National Partnership for New Americans Americans, New York Immigration Coalition, People's Action, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Save the Children, UndocuBlack Network, UnidosUS, United We Dream, Voto Latino, Witness at the Border.
Read the full report here and find the 2022 and 2023 Blueprint reports here.
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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.