AMERICANS CONTINUE TO SAY IMMIGRATION IS A GOOD THING FOR U.S.
America’s Voice has tracked the Gallup poll’s findings on immigration issues for years and the latest edition this week showed that on the threshold question of whether immigration is a “good thing” for the nation, Americans firmly believe immigration is a good thing (68%) and not a “bad thing” (27%). Over the years, the data has been trending in the pro-immigrant direction, while the partisan gap between supporters of the two parties has generally gotten wider. Despite relentless attacks on immigration and immigrants in right-wing media and by anti-immigrant politicians, the majority of the country remains solidly behind the kind of approach to immigration favored by AV and many other pro-immigrant advocates. Read more here.
LET’S NOT FORGET THE 11 MILLION AND THE FIGHT TO LEGALIZE THEM
In their weekly column, America’s Voice En Español Director Maribel Hastings and Spanish-language Advisor David Torres write that it’s long past time to fight to legalize the 11 million undocumented, who continue to contribute to the U.S. economy despite years of Congressional inaction. With border crossings reportedly at their lowest levels since President Biden took office, and another election around the corner, Hastings and Torres say that we need to go back to an issue that continues to be forgotten. “And while much has been said and many bills have been introduced that, in a polarized Congress, have no possibility of approval, undocumented people continue to march forward with their lives, working, contributing, supporting, and living with the specter of deportation always at their backs.” Read their column in English here and in Spanish here.
THE GOP’S WHITE NATIONALIST PROBLEM RUNS DEEP
Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville this week appeared to defend white nationalism, and during an interview refused to condemn white nationalists as racists (they are). But as America’s Voice Political Director Zachary Mueller writes, the GOP’s white nationalist problem runs much deeper than just Tuberville. “Lest we forget, the GOP of 2019, was willing to offer consequences for former Rep. Steve King when he questioned why white supremacy was wrong to a major news outlet. Then-Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy stripped Rep. King of his Committee assignments.” But since his shocking remarks, Tuberville has faced no consequences from GOP leadership. “A reminder that it is only the lack of political will inside the GOP itself that prevents real consequences for its members defending white nationalism on live national TV.” Read more here.
EXTREME HEAT THREATENS ESSENTIAL WORKERS WHO FEED US
For farmworkers and other outdoor workers, the extreme heat hitting parts of the U.S. is a matter of life and death. Over the past decade, nearly 400 U.S. workers have died from heat exposure. That’s why heat standards ensuring workers are guaranteed water, shade, and rest breaks are so important. But despite this heat becoming our new reality, no national heat stress standard is currently in place, America’s Voice Editor Gabe Ortíz writes. “It angers because we know what it is to do this kind of work,” said Mily Trevino-Sauceda of Alianza de Campesinas. “And even though we want to be loyal to doing a good job, we don’t even think at the time that if we’re treated as human beings or not. We just want to survive it.” Read more here.
TEN YEARS LATER, WE’RE STILL PAYING THE PRICE FOR GOP INACTION ON IMMIGRATION
Ten years ago, bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform passed the Senate handily, but a small but loud contingent of anti-immigration legislators got GOP leadership to kill it in the House. That “‘loud contingent’ is now nearly unanimous within the GOP, “taking a nativist stance of intense opposition to those not born on American soil,” America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas’ says in a new op-ed published in The Messenger. She writes that we’re all paying a price for nativism and extremism, whether that is deadly violence inspired by the replacement theory, the economic costs of a dysfunctional immigration system, and the humanitarian and moral costs of 11 million undocumented people locked out of a path to citizenship. Click here to read and share the op-ed in The Messenger.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS
Our friends at FWD.us and American Families United shared the story of Amanda Valencia, who is one of the millions of Americans unable to gain citizenship due to unjust bars that make it very difficult for undocumented immigrants to adjust status by leaving the U.S. and reentering legally. “My husband went through the immigration process, had all of the proper documentation approved here in the U.S., and he was denied at his interview in 2021 because it was more than one entry into the country,” she says in a new video. It means a ten year bar for her husband, even though he’s married to a U.S. citizen. Click here to uplift and share Amanda’s story to continue building awareness and support to reform the immigration bars.
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