Ramirez Urges Congressional Leaders to Think Beyond the Border for Supplemental Negotiations

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) released yesterday a letter to House and Senate Leadership urging that immigrants, both those seeking asylum and those waiting for Congress to create legal pathways to citizenship, not be used as a bargaining chip in ongoing negotiations related to appropriations and supplementals. She encouraged legislators to abandon three decades of failed policy and address immigration beyond the border.

“I strongly urge you not to include any harmful immigration provisions in the supplemental and appropriations process, especially provisions of House Republican H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023,” said Congresswoman Ramirez. 

“If we are concerned about migration and border security, we would do well to abandon the policies that have been unsuccessful for the past three decades. Throwing billions of dollars at security and enforcement has not successfully slowed migration. We must invest in solutions that show promise to address the root causes of migration and mitigate the US workforce shortage.” 

The letter suggested that if should provisions meant to address immigration and border security be required, Congressional leaders consider the following:

• Support regional migration solutions in the Americas. Support humanitarian and development financing initiatives for stabilization, regularization programs, migration pathways, and integration initiatives.
• Increase resources to increase the number of immigration judges, asylum officers, and field staff at the border so that determinations regarding asylum may be made in weeks, not months. We must reestablish judicial review to ensure that persons given expedited treatment at the border have due process.
• Provide increased resources to interior cities to expedite the resettlement of people from the border to the interior of the U.S. It would be prudent to use federal resources to coordinate the placement of new arrivals into communities with workforce shortages.
• Establish economic development centers for manufacturing in the Northern Triangle to encourage large-scale economic development that can slow the pace of people seeking entry to the U.S. while simultaneously addressing future supply chain disruption. 

Congresswoman Ramirez further noted that if investments in security and enforcement must be made, they should not be made without significant concessions related to relief: “I encourage us to expedite work permits for new arrivals and expand work authorizations for long-term undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. via Parole-In-Place and TPS. We must eliminate the ‘unlawful presence and the overstay bars’ for all existing parole programs.” 

The letter urged legislators not to negotiate away the contributions of so many who have invested in America and are only waiting for a pathway for their contributions to be recognized. 

The full text of the letter can be found HERE. 

BACKGROUND

As the Vice Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez has stood against the scapegoating of immigrant communities during the appropriation process. On September 29, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez took to the floor to speak against the Republican Continuing Resolution,  H.R. 5525, the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act. The legislation conditioned funding to the government on the implementation of hurtful border policies that endangered and criminalized immigrants and asylum seekers. Congresswoman Ramirez also presented a motion to recommit the bill and called on her colleagues to vote against it. The legislation failed.