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Tell Congress to Provide a Path to Citizenship and Visa Backlog Reforms Through Budget Reconciliation

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Urge Congress to support a pathway to citizenship for people who are undocumented! Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representatives. Or email your Congressional Representatives or your Senators.

Both the House and the Senate passed a preliminary budget resolution that includes a pathway to citizenship for many people who are undocumented: Dreamers, people with Temporary Protected Status, and essential workers, including farmworker. Because a path to citizenship would have a large budgetary impact, it should and can be part of the budget reconciliation process. The benefits to our economy are enormous.

But the process continues—the budget resolution was only one step on the long road to actual budget reconciliation legislation. One current proposal would give up to 10 years of work authorization for undocumented people living in the United States, but no pathway to citizenship. This is an effort to comply with the Senate parliamentarian’s objections to two previous plans. But the Senate itself, not the parliamentarian, has the ultimate power and responsibility to decide that these provisions can be included in budget reconciliation.

Congress also has the opportunity to alleviate severe immigrant visa backlogs through reconciliation.  This will help individuals who have been waiting in line for years, if not decades, for a green card. Despite the immense demand for immigrant visas, at least half a million immigrant visas have been lost due to bureaucratic delays and pandemic closures. Congress must act to recapture these already authorized visas and take additional action to help those living and working in the United States.

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Urge Congress to support a pathway to citizenship for people who are undocumented! Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representative. Or email your Congressional Representatives  or your Senators.

The House and Senate are negotiating legislative text for budget reconciliation right now, and they need to hear from people like you. They need to know that you support immigration reforms through budget reconciliation and oppose anti-immigrant amendments that may be offered.

We need to keep the pressure on Congress. As the House and Senate work on the specific legislative text, they hear from us. They need to know that their constituents support immigration reforms and a path to citizenship NOW—not next year, or next session, or next century.

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Urge Congress to support a pathway to citizenship for people who are undocumented! Call your Senators. Call your Congressional Representative. Or email your Congressional Representatives  or your Senators.

Talking Points

Here are some talking points that you can include in an email or use in a phone call. Remember that making the call or email personal by telling who you are and why you believe immigration is so important will make your call or email more effective.

  • Thank you for your support of a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS and DED holders, and essential workers including farmworkers, who need and deserve this protection.
  • This protection must come in the budget reconciliation bill. That is the most significant, and possibly the only, opportunity that this Congress will have.
  • We also need to recapture visa numbers that have been lost due to bureaucratic delays and the pandemic.
  • Please oppose all of the anti-immigrant amendments that are offered.
  • We need action now, not next year or next session.

Action Alert: Support DACA—File a Comment

The Biden Administration has proposed a Federal Regulation on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals—DACA. This Federal Regulation is one needed response to court decisions attacking current DACA status. The proposed Federal Regulation falls short of what can and must be done to “preserve and fortify” DACA.   

You can file a comment telling the Biden administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to do better for Dreamers! The 60-day comment period on the new DACA rule closes on November 29, 2021. 

DACA is a federal policy offering limited protection to some undocumented migrants who came to the United States as children and have lived here continuously since before 2007. DACA offers limited protection from deportation, permission to work, and a limited status that allows the individual to enroll in college and get a driver’s license. DACA does NOT provide any pathway to become a permanent legal resident or citizen.  

As part of implementing new  Federal Regulations, the government is required by law to receive, review, and respond to comments from the public about the potential impact of the rule. The 60-day comment period on the new DACA rule closes on November 29, 2021. Organizations and individuals can comment on this rule. Anyone can comment, regardless of legal status.  

File a comment telling the Biden administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to do better for Dreamers!  

We know that DACA alone has never been enough. DACA is a federal policy offering limited protection to some undocumented migrants who came to the United States as children (“Dreamers”) and have lived here continuously since before 2007. DACA offers limited protection from deportation, permission to work, and a limited status that may allow the individual to enroll in college and get a driver’s license. DACA does NOT provide any pathway to become a permanent legal resident or citizen.  

The undocumented community needs permanent relief from the violence, cruelty, and inhumanity of deportation. Dreamers need permanent protection of a pathway to citizenship, not just a continuation of undocumented status with DACA protection. But until Congress acts to create that pathway to citizenship, stronger and broader DACA protection is crucial.  

File a comment telling the Biden administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to do better for Dreamers!  

Begin your comment by explaining who you are and why you care about DACA. Some of the suggested “asks” in a comment are: 

1) Set a higher age limit and a later date for eligibility. Right now, DACA is available only to Dreamers who were present in the United States by 2007 and are under the age of 35.  

2) Require notice and a chance to respond before any DACA grant is terminated.  

3) Requiring a separate application for work authorization could make a simple DACA application less costly but also creates a risk that immigrant youth receiving DACA might believe that even without the separate step of work authorization they could work. In Minnesota, the work authorization document is essential for getting a state ID or a driver’s license. If a change is made, that needs to be very clearly communicated. Those who work without authorization because of the confusion of this policy change should not have their DACA terminated nor face any other immigration-related penalties.  

Want more information? Go to the United We Dream website. Be sure to personalize your comment, even if you use this one-click option.  

However you choose to comment, file a comment TODAY telling the Biden administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to do better for Dreamers!