7/16/21
CONTACT: Anna Dvorak 414-469-0118; anna@vdlf.org
Momentum Building to Pass Citizenship for 11 Million
Essential Workers and Families in 2021
Voces de la Frontera Applauds Senate Democrats for Including Funding for Citizenship in Biden’s Jobs Budget Bill
(Milwaukee, WI) – Earlier this week, Democrats in the U.S. Senate came out with their economic budget package that includes creating a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented essential workers, Dreamers, TPS holders, farmworkers and their families.
If passed, this proposal would be the first immigration overhaul in 30+ years and would be a huge boost for the American economy. According to a study by the Center for American Progress, providing a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, farm workers and other essential workers would boost GDP by a total of $1.5 trillion and create more than 400,000 jobs in a decade.
Polls show broad bipartisan support for immigration reform – including from a majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents. Across Senate battleground states, 73% of voters say their own United States Senator should vote for these citizenship proposals.
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, said, “Thanks to decades of grassroots organizing, we are closer than ever to winning citizenship for the 11 million essential workers, Dreamers, farmworkers, TPS holders and their families who’ve kept our economy running during the pandemic. Passing Citizenship for All is broadly supported, will boost wages for working people and is widely popular across the political spectrum. It’s the right thing to do, and this is the year we’re going to get it done. Voces de la Frontera is mobilizing our supporters to contact our Democratic representatives in the US Congress to tell them to only support Biden’s Jobs Budget Bill if it includes Citizenship for All. Thousands of new and infrequent Latinx voters turned out in the November 2020 elections in Wisconsin to not only defeat a fascist threat but with the hope that a long unfulfilled promise of citizenship would be a reality in 2021. We are excited to engage the community in this final stage of the struggle.”
Alondra Garcia, DACA recipient and public school educator in Milwaukee said, “As a DACAmented educator, a path to citizenship means the ability to fulfill my duties as an educator without limitations. I would be able to better serve the youth and the families I work with. Like me, millions of immigrant essential workers live, work, and contribute to the United States every day and their families deserve citizenship and NOW is the time to make this a reality. When the community comes together, we make our dreams a reality.”
Voces will be holding public forums on July 24 and July 25th to engage the community on recent advances on immigration and to build our struggle to win immigration reform this year.
