Senator Cortez Masto sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to act decisively during the remainder of his term to protect DACA recipients and TPS holders
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) led her colleagues Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) in sending a letter urging President Joe Biden to complete important work to protect long-term immigrant communities before the end of his term. Specifically, they called on the Biden-Harris administration to designate, redesignate, and extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ecuador, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, as well as make it faster for DACA recipients to renew their status. These actions can be done immediately, would ensure that immigrants aren’t sent back to dangerous conditions, and would keep hundreds of thousands of hardworking immigrant families together, allowing them to continue contributing to their local communities.
“We write today to urge you to act decisively during the remainder of your term of office to complete important work that will protect long-term immigrant communities and ensure that families are not returned to countries where they would face immense danger,” the senators wrote.
The senators urged President Biden to designate, redesignate, and extend TPS for eligible countries, saying, “worsening crises in countries around the world, including in Ecuador, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, continue to endanger hundreds of thousands of people. Nationals from these three countries cannot return home due to severe circumstances on the ground….We urge the administration to ensure that those from countries with meritorious cases are granted TPS, allowing these individuals to continue building their lives here and contributing to our country.”
The senators also called on President Biden to protect DACA recipients by expediting processing and expanding legal pathways. “We urge USCIS to process all deferred action renewals and Advance Parole requests as expeditiously as possible. USCIS should also allow all DACA recipients’ status to extend for the maximum time possible,” they said. They also called on the administration to make it easier for employers to sponsor DACA recipients for H-1B visas.
You can read the full letter text HERE.
The first and only Latina senator, Senator Cortez Masto has consistently supported immigrant communities in Nevada, calling on the administration to take action to protect TPS holders and other immigrants, as well as leading commonsense legislation to fix our broken immigration system. She has worked to pass meaningful immigration reform that balances critical border security measures with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers, and she’s pushed legislation to allow Dreamers and TPS holders to work in Congress.
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