We, families with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), individuals, and undersigned organizations, call upon you to join Representatives Chuy Garcia, Lou Correa, Adriano Espaillat, and Jimmy Gomez in pledging to withhold support for a deal on reconciliation and infrastructure unless it includes provisions to legalize undocumented immigrants. We urge all members of the CHC to take a formal and unified position to ensure that immigrants are not deprioritized and left behind if and when congress sends landmark legislation to President Biden.

At this critical moment when so much hangs in the balance for millions of immigrant families-- many whom have experienced disproportionate death and suffering as the result of the twin epidemics of COVID 19 and Trumpism--the absence of leadership from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on immigrant rights has been palpable.

Indeed, during a time when mostly white pundits are ruminating about the erosion of Latino support for Democrats in the last election, many in the political class are gravitating to the dangerous and false conclusion that Democrats have been too pro-immigrant. This wrongheaded assertion is not only going largely uncontested by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the CHC’s silence and lack of urgency on immigrant rights is lending it credence.

Many members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus were elected to office boasting of their parents’ immigrant heritage. It is now incumbent upon them to show the same leadership, courage, and sacrifice that their families demonstrated for them. You must step up now, show leadership, take action, take risks, stake a position, work collectively, and do whatever it takes to get the job done. We are depending on you.

You signed up for the job to be our champions, and it is time for you to either get to work or step aside and let others lead in your place. Following the most anti-Latina and anti-immigrant president in modern American history, during a pandemic in which immigrants are working to death without basic rights, and at this pivotal moment where the future of democracy is literally at stake, you simply must do more. Millions of immigrants are being deprived of citizenship, political, and economic equality in direct contravention of the nation’s highest shared constitutional values.

We know the Senate Parliamentarian may have an important impact on the reconciliation process, but we are also well aware this fight is still in the hands of Democratic leadership. What we need now is for you to prioritize immigrant families and deliver on your promises. The country owes a moral debt to our community, and the time for payment is long overdue. Please take appropriate action to ensure that THIS IS THE YEAR. Where there is a will, there is a way. Collectively, you have a power far greater than any single senator, the parliamentarian, or even the filibuster itself. It’s time for you to use it.