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| Rep. Grace Meng, New York |
ASAM NEWS
DONALD TRUMP signed a budget deal this morning (Feb. 9) that doesn’t include the immigration reform that many Democrats had demanded before they would pass the budget.
The House approved the compromise package this morning at 5:30 Eastern Time that restored some of the social service cuts that the President wanted and increased military spending.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pledged to allow a debate on immigration to come to the floor next week, but his counterpart in the house, House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI) refused to do the same.
Earlier yesterday, Rep Grace Meng (D-NY) held a news conference to call out the President’s proposal to eliminate family based immigration.
“I’m the daughter of immigrants. The first one in my family to come to the U.S. was my grandmother,” said Meng, the Democratic National Committee’s Vice chair. “She worked for years as a nanny and was eventually able to sponsor my mom. Without family-sponsored immigration, I would not have been able to be here with you today representing our communities and our country in Congress.”
Washington State Senator Manka Dhingra (D) talked about the impact of the immigration backlog on her constituents.
“The area that I represent—45th CD is home to many tech employees—some of whom are here on a H1B visa—it is taking them decades to convert that visa into a green card. Decades. The question that people forget to ask, is what happens to their children when they turn 18. These kids come here at a young age with their parents, but when they become adults, they suddenly have no legal status. We are a country of immigrants. Immigrants enrich and contribute to the success of America every single day.”
Parthiv Patel, the first Dreamer admitted to the Pennsylvania and New Jersey State bars, spoke from personal experience.
“I was never really big about speaking out and showcasing my status. But that kind of changed for me over the course of the last six months. Realizing that Dreamers have a lot on the line. There are nights where Dreamers toss and turn in bed not knowing what’s going to happen. I felt like this was a time where Dreamers that can lend their voice, Dreamers that can out and speak out, should go speak out. That’s why I began to speak out. Also, another reason that I began to speak out was because I realized that especially in the Asian community, there is this notion that nobody speaks about their status. […] I think it’s important that we begin to speak out, because this is not just a Latino issue, this is a global issue.”
“It is disgraceful that Congress has not included legislation for DACA recipients in this latest round of negotiations. Asian Americans Advancing Justice urges Congress not to leave DACA recipients behind.
"There are more than 130,000 Asian undocumented youth, and it is unacceptable to continue to kick the can down the road and leave undocumented youth with uncertainty when the deadline for their protections to expire is only three weeks away. The impact of this decision will lead to more deportations and to more people losing their jobs and healthcare. Our undocumented youth need a permanent solution now. That solution is a clean DREAM Act.
"Although we acknowledge that there are many important items prioritized by this bill such as funding for community health centers, disaster relief, and the census, Congress shouldn’t pass this bill while turning its back on our undocumented youth.
"Americans overwhelmingly support creating a path to citizenship for undocumented youth. When is this Congress going to listen to the will of the people and stop treating the lives of our undocumented youth like a political football?"
(Views from the Edge contributed to this report. This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.)
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