Washington, DC — Three Latino Democratic Senators are calling on the Biden administration to help protect Dreamers and TPS holders during President Biden’s remaining weeks in office and ahead of the Trump administration’s stated plans to strip protections and make as many individuals as possible eligible for deportation.
As Politico Playbook highlighted this morning, Senators Cortez Masto (D-NV), Lujan (D-NM) and Padilla (D-CA) have sent a new letter, (read it here), that calls on President Biden to “act decisively,” including on behalf of:
- TPS holders: the Senators call for designating, redesignating, and extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible countries, including Ecuador, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
- Dreamers and other deferred action recipients: The Senators call for “expedited processing and expansion of legal pathways,” noting, “with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future of DACA and others with deferred action, we urge USCIS to process all deferred action renewals and Advance Parole requests as expeditiously as possible. USCIS should also allow all DACA recipients’ status to extend for the maximum time possible.”
The following is a statement from Douglas Rivlin, Senior Director of Communication at America’s Voice:
“We thank Senators Cortez Masto, Lujan, and Padilla for their leadership and important advocacy on behalf of Dreamers, TPS holders, and other immigrants with deep roots in the country and heightened anxiety about their futures in the United States.
The Trump pledge for the ‘largest deportation operation in the history of our country’ includes stripping legal protections from deeply rooted immigrants who hold various forms of legal status and deportation protections and making them eligible for deportation. This ghastly pledge even includes those with DACA, TPS or other legal status who have been here for decades. Despite continued claims by Trump allies that they’ll target supposed violent criminals, the Trump team is simultaneously pledging to get rid of common sense enforcement priorities that direct ICE enforcement against bad actors, and not grandmothers, Dreamers and people who have lived in the U.S. longer than in any other country. We will be watching to see if they intend to literally target immigrants we know not to be criminals (they regularly go through and pass criminal background and biometric tests for TPS and DACA), label them criminals anyway and hope that the American people will not know the difference.
As a result, it’s essential that the Biden administration and allies – from businesses that employ DACA recipients and TPS holders to everyday Americans who are worried about their friends, co-workers and neighbors – stand up and speak out against mass deportations and do everything possible to protect and support immigrants already playing a vital role in our nation.”
