President Biden Recognized Immigration Reform Must Prevail, Now It’s Time to Keep His Promises

For Immediate Release

Contact: Mynellies Negrón (703)585-6727

President Biden Recognized Immigration Reform Must Prevail, Now It’s Time to Keep His Promises

(March 1, 2022 – Washington D.C.) – The “We Are Home” campaign, a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-generational coalition, urges Biden to continue to make immigration a priority and signal to his administration and Congress the urgent need for solutions to address immigrant communities. Millions of undocumented immigrants remain at risk of deportation, including those working on the frontlines of pandemic response.

The following statement is attributed to Bridgette Gómez, Campaign Director for the We Are Home campaign.

“Because of the tireless efforts of immigrant communities across the country, President Biden continues to recognize the importance of immigration reform during this critical period of recovery for our nation. As President Biden said, we must get this done once and for all! Our communities need immediate actions that back these words.

With increasing delays in legislative solutions, the administration must use its executive authority to protect immigrants who call this country home and those who are turning to the U.S. for refuge. President Biden must take executive action so that we can protect our immigrants from family separation, address and stop the harms of immigrant detention centers, and end the abuse and deportation of vulnerable migrants. The Biden administration can and must do everything in its power to fulfill the promises on immigration and must continue to urge Congress to do the same.

The events in Ukraine are a poignant reminder that we must show compassion to the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants who make their way to our shores and borders. Our country cannot move forward if we leave behind millions of undocumented immigrants who are integral to our nation and those who are in desperate life-threatening situations seeking refuge.”

Other We Are Home partners shared the following comments:

Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream, said:

“This past year, across movements, we fought back and built undeniable people power to defend our communities. President Biden and Democrats had a clear opportunity to deliver on the promises they made to ‘Build Back Better’ for Black, brown, and immigrant communities. With many promises left unfulfilled, he and his administration remain responsible for the continued implementation of Trump’s border rules and the over 2 million people deported and expelled since the start of his term. Nevertheless, we are undeterred to continue to deliver tangible victories for our communities. It is precisely this undeniable power and the leadership of young, Black, brown and immigrant people that we will use to defend our democracy and our rights,” said

Community Change Action Co-President Lorella Praeli said:

“While President Biden has made progress over the last year, there is more work that needs to be done so that working families can thrive, not just survive day to day. He has made historic economic progress and helped get the country back on track with millions of shots in arms, and economic relief via moratoriums on student loan repayments and direct cash payments to parents. We can’t ignore that. However, he must do more to bring relief to immigrants who form part of the backbone of this country. Through executive action, President Biden can close detention centers and cut detention levels, end police-ICE agreements, restore asylum at the border, and designate TPS for those fleeing violence and dangerous conditions. He has the authority to take action and deliver on his campaign promises.”

We Are Home is a nationwide campaign fighting to ensure that “we the people” includes all of us. 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. And we must immediately enact legislation that creates a roadmap to citizenship for every immigrant who calls this country home. We Are Home is co-chaired by Community Change/Community Change Action; National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)/Care in Action; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); United Farm Workers (UFW), and United We Dream.

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