FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 26, 2021
Media Contacts
Janelle Erickson | jerickson@HilltopPublicSolutions.com | (310) 614-0289
“The only way our country can truly Build Back Better is if America’s recovery includes all workers.”
Washington, D.C. – Late yesterday, leaders of the We Are Home Campaign and the Center for American Progress sent a letter to President Biden urging him to include a pathway to citizenship for immigrant young people, TPS holders, essential workers and their family members in his upcoming Build Back Better economic recovery plan.
You can read the full We Are Home letter here.
The We Are Home Campaign letter reads in part:
“We write to you today as co-chairs of the We Are Home immigrant rights campaign, leaders of organizations representing millions of members across the United States, and progressive champions, … to strongly urge you to include a path to citizenship for Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status holders, and essential workers and their families in your upcoming Build Back Better economic recovery package.
Your administration has the ability right now to secure citizenship for millions of immigrants, provide basic human rights and a fair economic playing field for tens of millions of families, and seize this historic moment to make the most important and positive transformation of the immigration system in modern history.
We share your vision of Building Back Better and fully endorse your commitment to advance racial equity across the American economy. And like you, we know that immigrant communities have been the frontlines of fighting COVID-19—and tragically been devastated over the last year. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color have been disproportionately hammered by both the coronavirus pandemic and the economic devastation that it brought to American communities. That is no less true for undocumented immigrants in this country—93 percent of whom are people of color—who have also been largely left out of prior COVID-19 relief bills.
There are today an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants in the country’s essential workforce who risk their lives and the lives of their families every day to keep the country running. Providing a path to citizenship for these individuals and their families recognizes not only the sacrifices they have made for all Americans over the past year—and, in truth, for many more years before that—but also the important role we will need them to continue to play in America’s great comeback.
The only way our country can truly Build Back Better is if America’s recovery leaves no one behind.”
###
We Are Home is a nationwide campaign fighting to ensure that “we the people” includes all of us. Our mission is to transform America’s inhumane immigration system. We must undo the damage of the last four years and build a new immigration system that is fair, humane, functional, and centered in racial justice, and respects all people, regardless of race, religion, or birthplace. And we must immediately enact legislation that creates a roadmap to citizenship for every immigrant who calls this country home.. We Are Home is co-chaired by Community Change/Community Change Action; National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)/Care in Action; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); United Farm Workers (UFW), and United We Dream.