TAKE ACTION: Urge Your State & Local Elected Leader to Support a Pathway to Citizenship

Right now, Congress has a unique, historic opportunity to help enact legislation that creates a pathway to citizenship for many immigrants in the United States. Congress is considering this legislation through the budget reconciliation process - a process that allows for a simple majority of the Senate to adopt particular types of policy, eliminating the possibility of a Senate filibuster. However, the Senate Parliamentarian recently advised against including a pathway to citizenship in the budget reconciliation package.

It is vital that we keep up the pressure for Congress to include and pass a pathway to citizenship for essential workers, farmworkers, Dreamers, and TPS holders in the final Fiscal Year 2022 budget. One way to keep up this pressure is by urging your state and local elected leaders to support a pathway to citizenship and urge Congress to bypass the Senate Parliamentarian by signing onto this important letter.

Contact Your Senators and Representative Today!

Subject:

Please Urge Congress to Support a Pathway to Citizenship

Dear Official,

I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and I urge you to support a pathway to citizenship by signing onto an important letter to Congress. Right now, Congress has a unique, historic opportunity to help enact legislation that creates a pathway to citizenship for many immigrants in the United States. Congress is considering this legislation through the budget reconciliation process - a process that allows for a simple majority of the Senate to adopt particular types of policy, eliminating the possibility of a Senate filibuster.

However, the Senate Parliamentarian recently advised against including a pathway to citizenship in the budget reconciliation package. It is vital that you speak out in support of a pathway to citizenship and urge Congress to bypass the Parliamentarian by signing onto this letter: https://bit.ly/CitizenshipStateLocalLeaderSignOn. Vice President Harris is legally authorized to reach a conclusion independent from the Senate Parliamentarian’s advisory opinion, and to clear the path for Congress to finally deliver on the promise of legalization. My community welcomes immigrants, and I urge you to do the same.

Regards, Your Name

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Please encourage others to act! Share this alert, and urge others to contact Congress and the Administration, as well.

Sample Script:

“I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN] and [as a person of faith/refugee], I urge you to equip our communities with the resources we need to welcome our Afghan neighbors and help them integrate and thrive. Congress should immediately authorize Afghans entering the United States with humanitarian parole to receive full refugee resettlement benefits, provide supplemental funding for that purpose to ensure our communities have the resources they need to serve Afghan arrivals, and create an opportunity for Afghans to apply for legal permanent residence. I call on you to:

Pass the House-passed FY 2022 Continuing Resolution. The Senate should immediately take up and pass the House-passed CR, as it authorizes Afghan parolees’ access to the same benefits as refugees admitted by the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). These benefits include English lessons, job training, and educational support for children. It also provides supplemental funding to provide services to our new Afghan arrivals, which funding will be dispersed to help states and local communities welcome and support refugees.

Pass an Afghan Adjustment Act: Congress should immediately pass legislation that would allow Afghan parolees who are being evacuated from Afghanistan to have an opportunity to seek legal permanent residence. These parolees are fleeing violence and persecution and deserve an opportunity to rebuild their lives in safety -- and without the fear and limitations associated with uncertain immigration status. This is also critical because Afghans were advised to destroy documents associating them to the U.S. mission and other information that would otherwise be used to pursue an asylum claim.

Hold the Biden administration accountable. Congress has a role to play in ensuring the administration creates safe pathways out of Afghanistan, establishes procedures to equitably and efficiently welcome Afghans not in Afghanistan to the United States, and expands and expedites life-saving refugee protections. It is equally imperative that the administration creates a categorical parole program for Afghans, waives all application fees associated with humanitarian parole applications, at minimum for individuals with U.S. ties or loved ones in the United States, and creates an electronic application process for these applications.”