Alliance: New Congress Must Pass the American Promise Act! We Are families, Not Bargaining Chips”
Los Angeles, CA – Tomorrow, as the 116th
Congress is sworn in the newly elected members of congress have an opportunity to protect the parents of over 270,000 US Citizen children. Hundreds of thousands of parents to US Citizen children are TPS holders and are looming close to an inevitable termination of their legal status putting them at risk for deportation and permanent family separation in 2019 if Congress fails to act.
“We are not disposable. Our lives are not temporary” said Jose Palma. “We are human beings, we are workers, sons, daughters and children. We cannot allow decades of investment in our communities, through labor, taxes and education be stripped away. We call on Congress to take action now and to ensure that our families are not used as bargaining chips”
As of today only a temporary court injunction is protecting over 400,000 mothers, fathers, and workers with strong ties to the economy from deportation, but a permanent solution does not exist for TPS holders. The American Promise Act, introduced by Rep. Nydia
Velazquez (NY-7) is currently the only legislative solution in congress that aims to protect all TPS holders and ensures a pathway to permanent residency status. The National TPS Alliance has produced a series of Legislative principles that are integral to any inclusive legislation to be pushed forward in congress and which ensures that TPS holders and their families are not separated and treated fairly and humanely. Some of these include:
- The ability to adjust to Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status
- The inclusion of all people that had TPS and were originally eligible for the program
- The inclusion of all past and present TPS nationalities
The New Congress can prevent the massive separation of families by ensuring the inclusion of TPS holders. As Trump and legislators continue to have negotiations on the government shut down, we urge the newly elected Congress to not play with the lives of families who risk deportation and permanent separation. Workers and families are not bargaining chips, they are women, men and children who deserve to be treated with respect and compassion. The 116th
Congress has an opportunity to act now and to lead with compassion, fairness and above all uplift America’s moral values.
###