Essential workers are heroes! Almost 3 out of 4 undocumented workers in the United States have been working on jobs designated essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. These workers have been essential during the pandemic and they are going to be as essential during the economic recovery of the country.
The Citizenship for Essential Workers Act was introduced on March 16, 2021, by Congressman Joaquin Castro, who represents Texas, 20th Congressional District.
Millions of undocumented essential workers lack any protection from deportation. If the Act becomes law it will provide undocumented essential workers with a path to citizenship, beginning with immediate adjustment of status to legal permanent resident. This is the latest attempt from Democrats to get legislation that would offer undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
What is the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act?
If and when the bill becomes law, the Act will provide undocumented essential workers in specific essential industries a path to citizenship, beginning with an immediate opportunity to apply for adjustment of status to become legal permanent residents of the United States.
Who can apply under the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act?
If and when the bill becomes law, essential workers in the following essential industries can immediately apply for adjustment of status:
- Healthcare
- Agriculture
- Construction
- Emergency response
- Sanitation
- Food
- Restaurants
- Hotels and hospitality
- Meat, fish, and poultry processing
- Domestic work
- Childcare
- Disaster recovery
- Home health and residential care
- Manufacturing
- Warehousing
- Transportation and logistics
- Janitorial
- Laundry services
- Any other worker deemed essential by the DHS or State or local government.
The Act will also include undocumented workers who worked in essential industries but lost employment due to COVID-19, including leaving the job due to unsafe working conditions, as will undocumented relatives of an essential worker who died from COVID-19. The Act aims to preserve family unity by repealing the three- and ten-year bars for re-entry into the United States.
Congressman Joaquin Castro said, “From farmworkers in the fields to nurses in the ICU, immigrant essential workers have risked their lives, and their families lives, every day during this pandemic. Our nation owes them a debt of gratitude and they have earned a path to citizenship."
California’s Senator Alex Padilla said that “these heroes have risked their health and their lives to keep our communities safe and our economy moving, and they have earned a pathway to citizenship. My parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. My father worked as a short-order cook and my mom used to clean houses - jobs that would be considered essential today. Dignity, respect, and citizenship for essential workers is personal for me and in the best interest of our country.”
Massachusetts’ Senator Elizabeth Warren said that "essential workers risk their lives every day to keep our country running - but about 5 million of those workers now live in fear of deportation. We must act immediately to correct this injustice, and that's why I'm proud to announce the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act with my colleagues to provide a fair pathway to citizenship for essential workers.”
California’s Congressman Ted Lieu also said that “workers in health care, meatpacking, agriculture, public transit, and other industries strive to ensure our neighbors have basic necessities and are cared for. During the pandemic, these are people who have risked their lives to keep our economy and country running.”
On Tuesday, April 13, 2021, a group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to prioritize the inclusion of the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act as part of the American Families Plan and his legislative package on jobs and infrastructure.
The first part of Biden's infrastructure plan named the American Jobs Plan, would improve the nation's infrastructure and shift to greener energy over the next eight years, costing about $2 trillion. This is the first of a two-part proposal to help the nation's economy recover from the COVID pandemic; the President is expected to unveil the American Families Plan hopefully in the coming weeks.
Over 60 top Economists recently made that case in a letter urging the Biden Administration to include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants as part of COVID-19 relief, pointing out that such a policy would increase prosperity and reduce poverty for all Americans.
The bill is very ambitious. A bipartisan majority of Americans agree that a path to citizenship for essential workers is the right thing to do. On the other hand, Congressional Republicans have said they won't negotiate on any legislation involving undocumented immigrants if it doesn't also include stringent border security provisions and restrictions on asylum seekers to be included in any such proposal.
POSTED BY: Mara Montini
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