We wanted to make sure you saw these powerful pieces in the NY Times and Washington Post addressing the urgent need for Congress to pass a permanent solution protecting DACA recipients and TPS holders.
The New York Times shares the story of TPS holder Cristina Morales of El Salvador, and addresses the urgent task before Congress and the Biden Administration: “Unless Congress passes legislation that grants T.P.S. holders permanent status or President Biden’s administration issues new T.P.S. designations for the six countries, the forced removal of 402,000 T.P.S. holders could begin as soon as October. Because they are the parents of some 273,000 U.S. citizens — most of them under the age eof 21, like Morales’s children — it could also turn into the largest family-separation operation in American history.”
The Washington Post lifts up the story of Javier Quiroz, a DACA recipient and essential worker serving as an acute-care nurse in one of Houston’s busiest hospitals fighting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Quiroz makes clear how continued inaction failsboth to protect immigrants and meet policy goals that are massively popular with Americans across the country, stating,“‘People are really struck when they find out that I’m undocumented,’ recalling the words he often hears from patients…‘You’re here saving people’s lives, taking care of American citizens? Why don’t you have a pathway to citizenship already?’”
DACA and TPS—two hugely successful programs that protect roughly 1.2 million people in total from deportation—remain under urgent threat. In March, the House of Representatives passed the American Dream and Promise Act with overwhelming bipartisan support. This bill would provide desperately needed protections to the millions of individuals who currently have temporary status, including DACA recipients, TPS holders, and undocumented Dreamers. The Senate must act in kind and pass permanent protections, which nearly 80% of Americans of all backgrounds support. Providing a pathway to citizenship for these vulnerable populations immediately is also crucial to the nearly 1 million DACA and TPS holders serving in essential worker roles during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet remain unable to access the certainty, dignity, and overdue respect afforded by permanent protections.