Letter - People Power United sends a letter to President Biden opposing the anti-immigrant provisions in the Senate’s supplemental funding package

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People Power United joined other local, state, and national groups to send a letter to President Biden to opposing the anti-immigrant provisions in the Senate’s supplemental funding package. Shout out to Protecting Immigrant Families for leading these efforts.

Here is the letter sent on behalf of our People Power United membership to President Biden:

February 6, 2024

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden

President of the United States

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

The Honorable Charles E. Schumer

Majority Leader

Hart Senate Office Building, 322

Washington, DC 20510

Dear President Biden and Majority Leader Schumer,

We, the undersigned organizations representing border communities from California to Texas, along with allies and advocates across the country, are writing to express our collective opposition to the immigration and border provisions of the Senate's supplemental spending package. As organizations that lead the work of welcoming and supporting immigrant and migrant communities on a daily basis, we firmly believe that these provisions are not in the best interest of our communities nor our country. We strongly urge these measures be stripped from the legislation or, should they remain, that Congress reject this bill. The limited benefits of this package are significantly outweighed by the cost to human life and dignity, and it will push us further away from the orderly, safe, and humane border our country needs. 

Instead of this mistaken and unfounded approach, we urge Congress and the Administration to wield solutions readily at their disposal by expanding access to legal pathways and parole—including increasing the number of individuals processed at ports of entry border-wide—and investing in collaboration between government agencies and legal service providers to advance timely access to employment authorization and counsel. Doing this will help immigrants integrate into communities across the country and uplift how integral immigrants are to our country.

We must remember that borderland communities are places of opportunity and growth rooted in trade and cultural exchange, existing long before the first section of the wall went up. Borderland communities are places where we do not fear newcomers but are ready to roll up our sleeves and do the work of welcome. But if we choose this bill and give in to imagined fears, we risk permanent harm to the fabric of our communities–we will lose the values that bind us. 

Rather than listening to real immigration policy solutions offered since day 1 of this Administration, the text of this bill, including the changes to the credible fear standard and severe processing restrictions at the border, gut the asylum system. These changes will fail to bring the order its authors promise because the real crisis at our border is a crisis of leadership. 

Deterrence is, and always has been an ineffective policy. We saw this with Title 42, where asylum seekers continued to come to the U.S. in large numbers despite being blocked from entering. We see it now in Texas, where, despite the state’s deployment of police and National Guard to the border, communities experiencing the largest deployments have seen no drop in the number of arriving migrants. Instead of stopping people seeking safety in the U.S., migrants come despite our restrictions, driving rising numbers of migrant deaths at our southern border. Let us be honest: deterrence is a failure; trying it again means failing the American public and those looking to come here. 

This proposal would root our country’s response to global migration in a toxic, destructive politics of fear and xenophobia. We have already witnessed how white supremacist rhetoric leads to violence against immigrant communities across the country. We cannot accept border policies that so much as echo the hate of someone like the El Paso shooter. And yet, that is exactly where these proposals take us. Embracing fear and letting our fears shape our world this way will worsen this threat and make it much harder to uproot. 

Instead of this proposal, we must build on the opportunities readily available to lawmakers, such as by increasing lawful pathways to enter and remain in this country, protecting the credible fear process as a screening tool rather than a rapid-deportation machine, investing in increased processing capabilities at our border, and encouraging USCIS to strengthen collaborations with organizations serving asylum seekers paroled into the country. By investing in border communities, we can work together to ensure newcomers and longstanding immigrants alike are put on a path to support themselves and their families. We can work together to support better coordination with cities in the interior like Chicago, Denver, and New York. These humane solutions—rooted in actual needs—are what our communities need. 

Congress must also work towards fully fixing our immigration system, which includes permanent protections for DACA and TPS recipients, immigrant youth, and their families. Immigrants and refugees strengthen our communities and economy; it is time our policies reflect our values as a country and meet our economic needs and global migration. 

Sincerely,

******

People Power United champions progressive values and power to the people. We are a group of people who believe in the possibility of change and work to make it happen. Whether it's supporting a candidate, fighting to pass legislation, or working to change our culture, our members are committed to an inclusive and progressive future.