WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers, including California Sen. Alex Padilla, are calling on President Biden to act now to protect immigrants with temporary legal status and work permits.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move swiftly to crack down on immigrants, including mass deportations, once he takes office.
Lawmakers said at a press conference Wednesday that protecting hundreds of thousands of immigrants is not only a moral imperative, but also an economic priority.
“By stripping hundreds of thousands of workers of their work permits, we are eviscerating our own workforce,” Padilla said. “Every voter who went to the polls in November told campaigns and pollsters that the high cost of living, housing, and food prices were their biggest concern. It directly leads to economic disaster and price increases.”
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said White House officials have told her they are considering the request but have not given a timeline for when they could act. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
She and Padilla, along with New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján. sent a letter to Biden Last week, it requested that eligible countries, including Nicaragua, El Salvador and Venezuela, be redesignated as temporary protected states, and that Ecuador be designated as protected.
They also urged Biden to expedite the processing of applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that provides work authorization and deportation protections to certain immigrants brought to the United States as children. I asked him to change it.
California has about 68,000 people with temporary protected status and 150,000 DACA recipients.
Temporary Protected Status is a presidential power that allows people to live and work in the United States when conditions in their home country, such as war or environmental disaster, make it impossible for them to return safely. more 860,000 immigrants The program protects citizens of 17 countries, and the Biden administration has significantly expanded the program.
Program protection is granted for up to 18 months. Protection for some countries is scheduled to end soon. For example, the designation for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, and Sudan expires in March. Renewing now would buy these immigrants more time to work legally and explore alternative legal options.
Trump rescinded humanitarian protections for people in several countries during his first term, but a class action lawsuit kept them in place until the Biden administration took office and reversed Trump’s measures.
It is widely expected that President Trump will seek to revoke or lapse the protections soon after taking office.
The petition by lawmakers and supporters followed President Trump’s remarks. on NBC’s “Meet the Press” The only way to prevent family separation is to deport the entire family, including children who are U.S. citizens. President Trump also said he would “work with Democrats to develop a plan” to help DACA recipients remain in the country.
of The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing. On Tuesday, he published an article titled “How mass deportations separate American families, harm our military, and devastate our economy.”
in Preview Floor Speech for Public Hearing A day earlier, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said there was reason to be skeptical, if not cynical, of President Trump’s promise to work with Democrats.
“[In his] Last term, President-elect Trump withdrew from four bipartisan compromises with Democrats to resolve the DACA crisis,” Durbin said. “Democrats were at one point willing to provide billions of dollars for President Trump’s unpopular border wall in exchange for a bipartisan Dream Act, but they never seem to be able to come up with a positive answer. ”
Andrea Flores, a former Biden White House staffer and current vice president of immigration policy and campaigns for the advocacy group Fwd.us, said Biden has vowed to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants from dangerous situations. said the decision was politicized after the election.
He said Temporary Protected Status is a bipartisan law enacted in 1990, used by presidents of both political parties, and requires “a sober legal assessment of foreign policy and the state of the country.” he pointed out.
“Factors not specified in the law could prevent the Biden administration from taking action,” she said. “Historically, the use of TPS has always reflected the best of our nation’s efforts to protect those fleeing harm from oppressive regimes. We have protected those we take in and provide shelter to.” Failure to act now will leave a stain on the Biden administration’s legacy for years to come.”
