Our current immigration policies have a bias on who and from where individuals are admitted into our country. The path to fixing our Nation’s immigration system will not be easy. We can move forward by ensuring immigrants and refugees have access to timely legal defense, creating uniformity in process and addressing administrative issues and delays in processing that can deprive individuals of the status they need to live lives with dignity and freedom.

Freedom To Migrate. The fact that people continue to migrate to the US, knowing full well how cruelly our immigration system rips families apart and warehouses migrants in concentration camps, tells us everything we need to know about how badly in need of a welcoming country they are.

• • End the war on immigrants. The proliferation of military technologies in our southern borderlands over the past decades makes it clear that we have abandoned the legacy of the Statue of Liberty and decided instead to make war on the huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. We must demilitarize the border, disband ICE, and welcome in asylum-seekers fleeing war, poverty, and persecution.
  • Citizenship for all. DACA is a good start. However, families belong together, and deporting parents while their DACA-protected children remain here is inhumane and senseless. Moreover, keeping migrant workers in legal limbo drives down wages and undermines all working people. We must halt mass deportations, dramatically expand the DACA program, and improve green card accessibility.

• Address The Backlog. Currently there is a backlog of roughly five years for residents who are waiting on court cases to determine if they will be allowed permanent status in this Country or if they will be deported. This backlog does not allow people certainty and the ability to grow and plan their futures. The immigration court backlog which now tops 1.6 million cases, up from 1.1 million before the pandemic and more than double the caseload that existed in fiscal year (FY) 2018 requires deep systemic changes. 

• Family Immigration. We oppose current efforts that aim to limit familial immigration status to only include spouses and minor children. These regulations are dismissive of how family units exist and function across the world and only purpose is to fracture family and cultural ties. 

• Sanctuary Policies & Incentives. Congress must oppose current efforts to limit funding to States that implement sanctuary policies.This includes also resisting efforts for Federal Agencies to co-op local law enforcement in picking up and detaining immigrants. These policies do not protect communities and are a poor use of resources. 

Military, trade and climate policy. The US’s influence in the world is mighty, and often the consequences of our actions drive migration. Wars we initiate or sustain with weapons, money, and training create refugees abroad. Trade deals we enact for international corporations create mass unemployment across borders. Carbon pollution we emit exacerbates floods and fires that destroy entire communities elsewhere in the world. We must energetically overhaul these sectors and work toward a world where everyone who wants to can stay where they live.