For Immediate Release
Contact: John-Michael Torres, 956-784-0086, johnmichael@lupenet.org
Through reconciliation, Congress can deliver on Citizenship before August recess
SAN JUAN, TX – Federal Judge Andrew Hanen partially ended DACA, siding with Governor Abbott and AG Ken Paxton’s cruel attacks on immigrants. But border communities are not backing down and are demanding Congress deliver a path to Citizenship. We will not stop fighting until all people without documents can live free and thrive.
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PROTEST the attack on DACA led by Governor Abbott and Texas AG Paxton and call on RGV Congress members to deliver on a path to Citizenship through reconciliation.
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The path forward: Citizenship through budget reconciliation
Right now, Members of Congress have the avenue they need to pass a path to Citizenship. That avenue is the budget reconciliation process. Our Congress members cannot come home for August recess without delivering a path to Citizenship for undocumented people. RGV Members of Congress have the path and no excuses.
Reconciliation is a mechanism to advance legislation through a simple majority, rather than with the sixty votes needed to overcome a filibuster. In the face of zero Republican collaboration, the House and Senate leadership have signaled they will use the process to deliver on provisions that enjoy wide public support, including Citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
In a column last week, Maribel Hastings and David Torres from America’s Voice explain why Citizenship can be included in budget reconciliation:
In fact, Tuesday night Senate Democrats announced a deal among themselves regarding the reconciliation bill. Although details have not been formally given, it is inferred that it could include the legalization of Dreamers, TPS beneficiaries, farm workers, and possibly other essential workers. On Twitter Tuesday, Senator Alex Padilla of California announced that the Democrats took “a big step forward in making major investments in critical infrastructure for the American people—from climate to childcare to immigration.”
Although the process is fluid and nothing is confirmed, Senator Padilla’s very words cause the hopes of undocumented immigrants who have waited decade after decade for migration regularization to arise.
For those who question why they would try to include legalization measures in a budget proposal, there are innumerable data points, studies, and examples that prove not only the financial impact this segment of the population has, right now, through tax payments, including income and sales; buying homes, food, and clothing; opening businesses; or supporting the solvency of a Social Security program they will never get to benefit from, unless their status is regularized.
In fact, in a recent study, the Center for American Progress finds that legalizing a group comprised of Dreamers, TPS beneficiaries, and farm workers would result in no less than a $1.5 trillion increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), on top of creating some 400,800 new jobs in the coming decade.
That’s not all, of course, since those who are able to legalize will see a $4,300 salary increase in five years, a number that rises to $13,500 in ten years. In general, an increase in yearly salary for all U.S. Americans would be around $600.
And, that is without mentioning that undocumented immigrants already pay an average of $13 billion for Social Security each year and more than $3 billion for Medicare, according to data from New American Economy.
Basically, this would be a great opportunity to, once and for all, reconcile various realities: that undocumented immigrants already hold up the economy and legalizing them would be an even bigger national economic boon. And that despite the fact that Republican politicians exploit the topic, leaving out the true benefits of legalization, the American people, Democratic and Republican, according to various surveys, support a path to citizenship. They see it more pragmatically than politically.
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