LOS ANGELES -- The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the largest immigrant rights organization in California, welcomes the $3.5 trillion budget resolution that will help the entire country recover from the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic, ease the inequality that has hurt immigrants for so many years, and help craft a path to citizenship for them.
"This proposal invests in affordable housing, worker benefits, climate change mitigation, and community education, among other things," said Angelica Salas, CHIRLA executive director. "But above all, it includes spending on legalization programs for immigrants, so they can properly take part in the life of this country. We have been saying that if the United States is to Build Back Better, it must include immigrants. Thank you for hearing us. "
This package invests in families and health by extending the American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) expansions of the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and the child and dependent care tax credits. It invests in climate improvement by funding programs that meet President Biden's goal of 80 percent clean electricity and 50 percent cuts in emissions by 2030. It funds major housing, education, health, and nutrition programs in the ARP and pays for these investments with savings in healthcare costs, long-term economic growth, and most importantly, wide-ranging tax reform that will right-size the tax burden on workers in this country.
But most importantly, this package is a real move toward including all of us in the country's economy. By investing in legalization, it includes a pathway to citizenship for immigrant workers and their families, a move that has long enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support.
Please attribute the following statements to Ms. Salas:
"When immigrants become citizens, they transform into a driver for economic growth. They create jobs and increase wages for all Americans. Immigrants are part of the human infrastructure that powers all innovation and economic growth in this country. They have to be part of Buliding Back Better.
"We will continue to press for inclusion of as many immigrants as possible in this package because we know that this is the way our country flowers again and comes back even more powerfully. All of us are invested in the success of this package, and we will not flag it in our support.
"Our partners in Congress who have worked so hard for this package, including U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, deserve our gratitude. So do the hundreds of immigrants and activists who have been pressing to be seen and heard through protests, marches, lobby sessions and fasts. They have made real sacrifices, and we can glimpse a real victory because of their patient efforts."
