Washington, DC – Key voices are calling on Congress to deliver on legislation that provides permanent solutions for long-settled immigrants, including Dreamers and farm workers, before the end of the year.
This growing chorus of voices calling for a legislative fix comes after an election cycle in which Republicans’ extremism, including the GOP’s radicalization on immigration, was one factor that helped turn a host of their winnable 2022 midterm races into electoral defeats. With the American public strongly supporting a balanced approach to immigration policy instead of the GOP’s “border first” excuse for inaction, now is the time for a legislative solution:
- “Get it done” – Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream, on MSNBC calling for legislative fix for Dreamers: “Our message to Democrats, our message to Republicans is get it done.”
- Texas business leaders’ op-ed in Dallas Morning News, “Congress must act on DACA or Texas stands to lose thousands of jobs”: Chris Wallace of the North Texas Commission; Richard Perez of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce; Laura Huffman of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce; and Bob Harvey of the Greater Houston Partnership write, “Texas needs legal immigrants. Our leaders in Congress must find a permanent solution for ‘Dreamers’ before the repercussions of inaction imperil our economy.”
- The Los Angeles Times editorial board, “Ten years of limbo. DACA recipients need permanent relief now,” writes “Instead of waiting for the resolution of that federal court case, Congress must find a way to offer permanent relief to the immigrants we’ve come to know as Dreamers, who are thoroughly American and have built lives here as college students, entrepreneurs, essential workers and valued members of every community.”
- The Boston Globe editorial board sums up the opportunity at hand for Congress in “Talking turkey on immigration reform in the lame-duck session,” noting: “with only a few weeks left before Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, the contours of a bipartisan deal that would address at least some of the failures of our immigration system have taken shape. It would be a shame to let the opportunity pass.”
- A Washington Post column by Fernanda Santos, “Forget about Kari Lake’s loss. Here’s the biggest sign of Arizona’s moderation” spotlights the important passage of Arizona’s in-state tuition ballot initiative for Dreamers and its significance and key drivers: “The best evidence of Arizona’s shift away from Republican policies was the passage of a ballot measure reinstating the right of undocumented Arizonans to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. At 2.48 percentage points, the margin of victory for ‘yes’ on Proposition 308 was bigger than the margin that secured the governor’s seat for Democrat Katie Hobbs over Kari Lake and broke 13 years of Republican dominance in Arizona … To understand how the proposition’s passage happened, we have to go back to 2010, when Reyna Montoya and Jose Patiño met at a gathering of undocumented students at Arizona State University.”
- Wall Street Journal, “Backers of Farmworker Visa Overhaul Make Year-End Push for Immigrant Labor Deal”: Kristina Peterson and Michelle Hackman remind readers that DACA/Dreamers is not the only legislative focus of lame duck immigration push and that farm workers and leading agricultural voices are close to a breakthrough on behalf of another popular legislative push.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“In the next few weeks, Congress has the opportunity to finally enact important and overdue immigration legislation to provide a permanent status to Dreamers and other long-settled immigrants; to strengthen and stabilize our economy by keeping DACA workers employed and opening new legal channels to farm workers; and pairing these policies with measures that maintain and uphold asylum laws and our proud tradition as a welcoming nation.
At a time when the Stephen Miller, nativist approach to Republican campaigning again failed at the ballot box and as Donald Trump continues to bring white nationalists into the GOP, Republicans have to choose if they want to distance themselves from MAGA extremism and work to deliver on a point of American consensus outside the hardcore GOP base.”
