We welcome President Biden’s actions to reverse the Trump administration’s cruel, racist and divisive immigration policies and introduce constructive, inclusive alternatives. These essential steps will help to heal our country, empower workers, and build a stronger democracy and economy. Our Workers First Agenda is about all of us, with no exclusions, because the real recovery working families need, expect and deserve is impossible without equity.
America’s unions are committed to rebuilding the safety net and the ladders of opportunity for everyone who lives and works here, and we cannot do that without reforming our immigration system.
The president has laid out a bold legislative framework that will reset the immigration debate. Its centerpiece is a broad, inclusive pathway to citizenship that will help to raise standards for all workers and correct the unjust treatment of essential workers—and as such should be considered a core component of our economic recovery package.
We applaud the administration for taking immediate and decisive executive action to protect workers’ status, reunite families, end discriminatory exclusions, and halt the enforcement practices that have bred fear in our workplaces and communities.
It will take time to fully address the harm built up over decades of enforcement-only immigration approaches, but these actions represent a strong start.
Working people across America will continue to mobilize in support of urgently needed immigration reforms alongside other important pro-worker legislation like the PRO Act.
RICHARD TRUMKA
President, AFL-CIO
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