Dear Representative Robert Latta,
The past year has been a difficult time for our country as we worked together to adapt to the many challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our communities have had to work together in new and unprecedented ways to help ensure the health and safety of our neighbors. Throughout this challenge, immigrants have played a vital role in a wide variety of fields, filling essential jobs and helping to support our economy – and yet many remain unrecognized by Congress as legal residents.
Earlier this month, both the Senate and the House passed their budget resolution for 2022 which included a provision which would create a pathway to legal status for DACA recipients, holders of Temporary Protective Status, farm workers and other essential workers. We urge you to help ensure that these immigration provisions are kept during the budget negotiation process.
While there is still a deep need for a complete revitalization of the immigration system, this provision creates a first step for those who have been left without options, even as they’ve built lives, families, and businesses in this country.
As Bishop Mario Dorsonville, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, reminded us in a statement of support for this provision that “deporting millions of longtime residents would be unworkable and only serve to fragment families and harm local communities, especially when so many have U.S.-citizen children and spouses, own homes and businesses, and serve as essential workers…Integration into society is the moral solution for these persons.”
But the question of whether or not to provide legal status for these Americans is not just a moral question. FWD.us estimates that the U.S. economy would increase by $121 billion annually if Dreamers, TPS holders, farmworkers, and undocumented essential workers were U.S. citizens, including multi-billion dollar expansions in a dozen state economies, and boosting federal, state, and local tax revenue by $31 billion annually. Including legislation for these groups in the budget reconciliation process could allow nearly 7 million immigrants to access a pathway to citizenship.
We’ve also reached out to your team to extend an invitation to participate in a roundtable of local employers who would like the opportunity to talk with you about how changes in immigration policy would aid their success. They recognize that immigration helps keep the labor market robust, diverse, and creates opportunities to attract the talent they need, regardless of their industry. Please let us know if you or one of your representatives would like to participate in this private conversation.
We look forward to continuing the dialogue with you and your office related to these relevant matters. We hope to hear that you will work to ensure that the immigration provisions survive the budget negotiation process and that you support these popular provisions. Please consider us a resource in your decision.
Beatriz Maya, Director of La Conexion
Christina Yaniga, coordinator of NW Ohio Immigrant Rights Network
