Undocumented Communities Need Permanent Protections, ‘Parole’ Falls Short
/For Immediate Release:
Friday Nov 12, 2021
Contact: Jose Servin, Director of Advocacy and Communication, SIREN
jose@sirenimmigrantrights.org, 714-728-2520
Undocumented Communities Need Permanent Protections, ‘Parole’ Falls Short
California - The Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network released the following statement today:
It is without exaggeration that we say that the future of many people in this country depends on what will be included in the Build Back Better Plan.
Undocumented immigrants have fought for decades for legislative relief, and this past election cycle Democrats campaigned heavily on immigration reform. Now that they are in power, these elected leaders are caving to interparty pressure and robbing American’s of a once in a lifetime opportunity to rectify a key part of our broken and disastrous immigration system.
The ‘parole’ option that is now being offered to the undocumented community as ‘relief’ is restrictive, inaccessible, and costly to immigrant communities already being impacted by economic exploitation during a global pandemic. Additionally, temporary solutions like parole are a tried-and-failed tactic. DACA, for example, is a temporary policy solution with an uncertain future that has faced legal battles since its inception.
We need strong-willed members of congress to push past procedural roadblocks and champion the values that put them into office.
It is unconscionable that we continue to sacrifice the stability and livelihoods of more and more undocumented families as elected’s chip away at who they are willing to fight for, and who they are not.
The Democrat party’s loss in the gubernatorial race in Virginia is a key signifier that when Democrats stick to old, tired values that betray the will of the people and place corporate interests above public interest, they will lose. We urge elected officials in all positions of power, from city council to congress, to rally for the communities that elected them. With a concerted show of support, we believe that a permanent pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented people in this country is possible.
SIREN stands with the undocumented community throughout this political battle, and recognizes that each legislative decision carries a heavy emotional toll.
We support the DACA and TPS recipients, essential workers, and farm workers whose lives could change for the better through this legislation. At the same time, we continue to advocate for those who would be left out by these efforts, namely Black immigrants and people of color who are prosecuted and detained at disproportionate rates by U.S Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE).
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