For the last six weeks, Voces Unidas has been convening Colorado leaders in discussions with Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper regarding potential updates to federal border-security and immigration policy as part of the ongoing federal negotiations on a one-time funding package that inappropriately uses border security to leverage resources for other world conflicts.
As a group, we have expressed concerns with the extreme anti-immigrant proposals being presented by the Republicans and also the White House’s willingness to entertain Trump-era policies and strategies, none of which deal with our broken immigration systems or address the root causes of forced migration.
We have called on our federal representatives to protect against efforts to reduce humanitarian parole, increase interior immigration enforcement and other racist changes to an already-broken immigration system.
We welcome members of Congress from both parties to work to once and for all reform our outdated and broken immigration system. This complex issue deserves a real debate and authentic bipartisan negotiations to find long-term solutions. We have more than 11 million long-term immigrant contributors already living in the U.S. with no path forward. More than 2.1 million Dreamers, including 700,000 DACA participants, continue to be used as political footballs by both parties. Our misguided border security policies continue to waste money on symbols like building a wall rather than trying to actually solve the root cause of forced, economic and climate migration.
As of today, we do not expect a negotiated deal to be introduced until early next year. We will continue to monitor the public debates and help inform the process as much as we can. Ultimately, we all must do our part to make sure we hold our elected officials accountable for representing our values and pushing for progressive solutions that will help people, not add more harm.
We are thankful for the leadership of both Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper, who continue to be in direct communication and coordination with us and other leaders from across Colorado.
Please urge your members of Congress to oppose any efforts that use immediate foreign-policy needs to enact harmful, long-lasting immigration policy changes that will harm families.
For additional information please reach out to Kayla Frawley, Director of Policy and Advocacy, at Kayla@vocesunidas.org
