NILC Statement on Senate Passage of a Pathway to Citizenship in the Budget Resolution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2021

CONTACT
Madison Allman, [email protected], 202-384-1279

NILC Statement on Senate Passage of a Pathway to Citizenship in the Budget Resolution

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate today approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution that increases funding for health care, child and elder care, and education and climate change, and includes more than $100 billion to create a pathway to U.S. citizenship for millions of immigrant youth, people with temporary protected status, immigrant essential workers, and farm workers. The resolution now moves to the U.S House of Representatives.

Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center and the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund, issued the following statement:

“Today’s passage of the Senate’s historic budget resolution is a strong reminder that a broad multiracial and multigenerational coalition of voters gave Democrats a governing trifecta to respond boldly to the most pressing issues affecting our nation and to ensure that Republican intransigence doesn’t stand in the way of long-overdue progress. This budget resolution, which passed the Senate on a party line vote, represents a historic opportunity to expand the safety net so that everyone in our country has the freedom to thrive.

“It is also a momentous victory for immigrant communities and a critical step forward in addressing some of the most significant crises affecting working families in our country. We at the National Immigration Law Center have worked alongside our partners in the immigrant justice movement to bring about this moment.

“Making citizenship and inclusive relief a priority is long overdue for millions of immigrants who call the U.S. home. While today we celebrate meaningful progress, there is still work to be done to secure this historic victory. We urge Congress to take this critical bill across the finish line — without any harmful amendments — and ensure that we are creating an immigration system that is rooted in racial and economic equity and inclusion, so that we all have what we need to thrive.”

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