This is the year. Now is the time.
Yesterday’s launch of the We Are Home campaign is another reminder that the tectonic plates have shifted on immigration. Real progress is possible. This year.
Biden introduced a bold and sweeping bill immigration bill on day one. The new administration has already rolled out eight major executive actions on immigration policy. More are expected this coming Friday. Public support has never been stronger. Democrats recognize that the once-feared dog-whistle wedge attacks are losing their edge. And the immigrant justice movement has never been stronger.
As The Hill reported, a letter to Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi from We Are Home campaign director Nathaly Arriola noted:
“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.”
Learn more about We Are Home here and watch the powerful launch video here.
As the Associated Press reported:
“The multimillion-dollar #WeAreHome campaign was launched Monday by national groups including United We Dream and the United Farm Workers Foundation. It starts with ads on Facebook and other social media to reach lawmakers and the constituents who can pressure them. ‘We are home,’ a young woman’s voice declares in the first video spot showing immigrants in essential jobs such as cleaning and health care. ‘Home, even when they say we don’t belong.’
…organizers say they enjoy the momentum of a new administration and growing public support for giving people in the U.S. illegally a chance at citizenship. The activists note they are also more seasoned. ‘The movement has matured,’ said Lorella Praeli, the Peruvian-born co-president of Community Change, among the national groups leading the campaign. ‘It’s more diverse, experienced.’”
Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream said in a statement:
“We know that only legislation can deliver permanent protection – DACA is the floor, not the ceiling. Our power is undeniable, our demands are undeniable. The time is now, we’re ready.”
Patrice Lawrence, Co-Executive Director for UndocuBlack Network, stated:
“We implore Congress and the Biden Administration to center immigrants as humans and normalize the idea that legalization for all 11 million people and then some is possible without quid pro quo. We Are Home.”
As longtime immigration reform champion Senator Bob Menendez said, per Politico, …the Biden administration “will put political capital on the table” on immigration. Senator Menendez also is quoted in a Ron Brownstein CNN column noting, “I am hopeful that we can do more than less, because I never had a president who put his back into it.”
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice,
“If we are to be a nation that realizes the promise of equality for all, justice for all and opportunity for all, we have to transform our immigration system into one that lives up to our ideal of America as a welcoming nation. Undocumented immigrants are our family, our friends, our neighbors, and our co-workers. They should be formally recognized as the Americans they already are. The American public strongly backs the idea. It’s time for the Congress to translate this support into a breakthrough achievement that wins freedom for millions.”
