Last week, more than 140 civil and immigrant rights organizations signed a letter asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to PROTECT and EXTEND the path to citizenship they are currently debating in markup.
As the letter states:
Allowing the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country to become citizens after meeting appropriate requirements will make America stronger. It will add at least $832 billion to our national economy over 10 years (according to the Center for American Progress), stabilize the workforce in key sectors of the economy, and level the playing field in the workplace. It will strengthen community safety and national security by rebuilding trust between immigrant populations and law enforcement. And, it will protect the rule of law by restoring integrity and sanity to our nation’s immigration system. But in order to accomplish these goals, the path to citizenship must be fair, inclusive, and affordable, with reasonable and achievable requirements. A complicated, expensive, and restrictive path that leaves deserving people out will fail our families and undermine the success of Congress’ immigration reform.
The letter has already enjoyed a couple of victories: Sen. Hirono’s amendment 12, which was mentioned in the letter and allows legalizing immigrants to pay their fines in installments, has been passed. And Sen. Cornyn’s amendment 3, which was also mentioned in the letter and would have barred many immigrants from being able to legalize, was defeated.
View the full letter–with more than 140 signers and supporters–below:
