Senate Parliamentarian Continues to Stand in the Way of Justice but Senators and VP Harris Have a Way Through
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2021
Contact: Bethelhem@undocublack.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the world watches the ongoing atrocities visited upon Black migrants at the border, the UndocuBlack Network’s rallying cry that immigration is a Black issue is increasingly impossible to ignore. Including a pathway to citizenship in the reconciliation process is not only an urgent immigrant justice issue but an urgent racial justice imperative. Sen. Schumer and Vice President Harris need to go beyond the parliamentarian’s non-binding advice to heed the advice of the American people to deliver justice for immigrant communities.
Our communities cannot afford to wait for another election cycle for a direct pathway to citizenship to open up. Our communities have waited for more than 30 years, keeping the country afloat during a deadly global pandemic and fighting through four years of constant attacks from the Trump administration. We have not reached this point in the fight for permanent protections to be handed anything less than green cards for our people. Democrats have the Senate majority and it is time to show the country that they can be trusted to truly lead.
Patrice Lawrence, Executive Director of the UndocuBlack Network:
“There is clear precedent for Congress to provide permanent status in the form of green cards and the opportunity to become U.S. citizens through budget reconciliation, despite this latest opinion from the Senate parliamentarian. Democrats can and should deliver relief to critical, frontline workers, to those long under temporary status because of climate and political disasters in their countries, to childhood arrivals, to the elderly — we all deserve the stability and certainty of permanent residency. Democratic leadership must use the power of majority to do all it takes to keep the promises made to undocumented communities. ”
Breanne J. Palmer, Interim Policy & Advocacy Director at the UndocuBlack Network:
“The Senate parliamentarian has attempted twice to dissuade Congress from doing its job: legislating a pathway to citizenship that would change millions of lives and bolster our economy for decades to come. The budgetary impact of a pathway to citizenship is undeniable. Nonetheless, the parliamentarian has joined a grand bureaucratic tradition of using parliamentary procedure to deny justice for all. Make no mistake: Black people have always found ways to challenge this system and bend the arc of history toward justice. We urge the Senate, including Vice President Harris and Majority Leader Schumer, to respectfully reject the Parliamentarian’s advice and pursue immigration reform now. What is the point of delivering power to the Democrats if they will not confidently wield that power for the good of our immigrant communities?”
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