U.S. Citizenship Act Makes Strides for Pathway to Citizenship, Family Immigration
Asian Americans Advancing Justice welcomes
immigration bill as a start to a more inclusive immigration system
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Linda Sanchez introduced
the U.S. Citizenship Act, President Biden’s immigration proposal that would
offer 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. a path to
citizenship with a faster path for DACA recipients and Temporary Protected
Status holders. Senator Menendez plans to introduce the same legislation on
Monday in the Senate. Among other provisions, the bill also includes
Congresswoman Judy Chu’s Reuniting Families Act and her No Ban Act, two pieces
of priority legislation for Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
Asian Americans
Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five independent Asian American civil
rights organizations, issues the following statement:
“Tireless advocacy from
organizers and communities across the country has led to the inclusion of key
measures that will start the process of truly transforming our deeply flawed
immigration system. Asian Americans Advancing Justice commends the President
and Congressional leaders in their fulfillment of a campaign promise to offer a
path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants, DACA
recipients, and TPS holders that includes 15,000 people from Nepal. Yet several
key aspects of the bill fall significantly short of the long-term promise to
undo harms levied against immigrants and transform our immigration system.
We celebrate the inclusion of
Congresswoman Chu’s Reuniting Families Act and the No Ban Act in today’s
legislation. The No Ban Act would restrict the executive power to enact future
discriminatory bans such as the Muslim and African Bans and prohibit religious
discrimination in our immigration laws. The Reuniting Families Act would start
to clear the family-based and employment-based backlogs, providing relief to
separated families and Indian families stuck in temporary nonimmigrant visa
status. The bill also includes LGBTQ equality provisions in our immigration
laws, repeals the harsh three and 10-year and permanent bars to inadmissibility
and other relief for immigrant communities. It would also expand the diversity
visa program, a main pathway for immigrants from Africa.
While these provisions would
positively impact many Asian American and Arab Middle Eastern Muslim and South
Asian (AMEMSA) community members, the bill includes harmful provisions as well.
Specifically, the bill includes new additional criminal grounds of
inadmissibility which will further punish vulnerable members of our
communities. Immigrants with criminal convictions have already suffered cruelty
and racial targeting in our justice system; they should not be doubly punished.
The provisions originally in the Reuniting Families Act provided vital
protections through waivers, but those presented in this bill fall short and
exclude some community members. This comes at a time when large numbers of
Southeast Asian refugees continue to be ripped from their communities and
deported, often to countries they have never known and mass prosecutions of
Asian American and immigrant scholars for espionage-related and large numbers
of Asian American and immigrant researchers and scholars are being profiled,
targeted and prosecuted for espionage and related crimes when they are not
spies.
Asian Americans Advancing
Justice will continue to strive to build support in Congress and among the
public for truly transformative change in our immigration system including for
those with criminal convictions.”
About
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
