{"id":2498,"date":"2021-01-28T17:20:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T23:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rhizomecenter.org\/?p=2498"},"modified":"2021-01-29T15:59:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T21:59:49","slug":"open-letter-to-biden-bill-sponsors-caucus-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhizomecenter.org\/es\/2021\/01\/open-letter-to-biden-bill-sponsors-caucus-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to President Biden, Bill Sponsors, and Caucus Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haga clic aqu\u00ed<\/span><\/a> para ver esta carta en espa\u00f1ol.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Mr. President, Senator Men\u00e9ndez, Representative S\u00e1nchez, and caucus leadership,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are writing as U.S. and Mexican civil society organizations<\/strong> who serve the immigrants and returned immigrants of this region. We congratulate you on the proposed immigration plan<\/span><\/a> announced on January 20, 2021. We celebrate the administration\u2019s work in addressing the need to prioritize keeping families together and restoring humanity to our immigration system. The proposed plan<\/strong> is an important and welcome starting point as it comes at a time when immigrant and mixed-status families have been under siege for more than 10 years and after over 3 million have been deported<\/strong>, many before the Trump era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current plan provides an 8-year pathway to citizenship for eligible hardworking people who have long been integrated into American families and society. For eligible DACA recipients, TPS holders, and immigrant farmworkers, the proposed plan offers immediate permanent resident status and a 3-year pathway to citizenship. The plan also affords the possibility of extending lawful protective status to those deported under the Trump Administration for family unity, humanitarian, or public interest purposes, and additional provisions are intended to support family unity by eliminating the 3- and 10-year bars that have painfully kept families separated for so long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration\u2019s mandate gives hope to millions of lives while strategically leveraging waivers built into the immigration system to provide relief to families living in fear of deportation and by reuniting others already separated by forced return. The Department of Homeland Security also announced a 100-day moratorium<\/span><\/a> on deportations for certain noncitizens beginning January 22, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe that if uni\u00f3n familiar<\/strong> is to be the guiding principle of our immigration policy, there are still opportunities to strengthen the immigration proposal to build back better and set the stage for a more inclusive and equitable society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of thousands on the Mexican side of the border have already suffered forced return and seemingly will not benefit<\/strong> from the current proposal, even though they are the spouses or parents of American citizens<\/span><\/a> who still hope to be reunited with their family in the United States. They have been permanently barred, in some cases, due to multiple deportations or illegal entries after attempting to get back to their families. Over 200 deported U.S. veterans<\/span><\/a> have been dishonorably banished after their service and now live in Tijuana and other parts of Mexico. In many cases, their deportation resulted from drug-related, non-violent crimes or minor offenses stemming from the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life. They were punished twice, being deported after they had already paid their debt to society. After their removal, Mexicans find it difficult to obtain a tourist visa to visit. They also are often denied dignity in mourning and cannot even enter the United States to say goodbye to dying family members.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American lives also hang in the balance as countless citizens have been de facto<\/em> deported and forced to leave the United States due to U.S. immigration policies. Today, more than 600,000 U.S. children<\/span><\/a> live in Mexico with their deported family members where they continue to lose language and cultural ties to the United States, important factors that will affect their ability to succeed as U.S. adults. They, and thousands of U.S. spouses<\/span><\/a>, who gave up their lives, careers, businesses, and communities, now reside in Mexico, some in perilous situations where they are regularly exposed to violence and unrest. Their lives are analogous to those of undocumented migrants in the United States. Often they work without employment authorization and face challenges obtaining permanent legal status for themselves and their children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In light of the significant number of people living in limbo, we urge you to address the reunification of mixed-status families<\/strong> already separated by deportation and to acknowledge their circumstances as a key element of the administration\u2019s greater goal of unifying families. We hope that the legislation will include the following specific actions<\/strong> that will bring our veterans and others deported or forced to return back home, and allow these families to finally unite: <\/p>\n\n\n\n