FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 3, 2020
Contact: Lynn Tramonte ([email protected] / (202) 255-0551; Tom Salyers ([email protected]/ (202) 607-1074
Washington, D.C. – One in four children in the United States has at least one immigrant parent, and over 5 million children have a parent who is undocumented. Today, over 180 organizations are calling on the Biden-Harris administration to change federal policies and protect the children of immigrants. After four years of draconian changes in immigration, education, health care, and other social policies, these families deserve a chance to breathe and heal.
“The extent of harm to children in immigrant families [by the Trump administration] is a national emergency,” write 180+ groups from 33 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. On top of the stress of the pandemic, children of immigrants have been plagued with anxieties over potential family separation; detention and deportation of a parent or other loved one; exclusion from health care, income supports, and COVID-19 relief; and a climate of increased hate and discrimination.
The fact that a child of immigrants, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, will be in a position of such power inspires many to believe that big change is not only possible, but probable. Yesterday, members of the Biden-Harris transition team met with Latino and immigrant workers to learn about their experiences during the pandemic.
In the letter, these 180+ groups are calling for:
- Prioritizing immigrant families in COVID-19 relief
- Elevating the needs of children of immigrants within the White House and across federal agencies
- Halting and reforming immigration enforcement actions and policies that harm children
- Facilitating family reunification
- Restoring and fully implementing DACA and TPS, as well as creating permanent protections for immigrants in the law
- Undoing the deeply harmful public charge regulation
- Increasing access to affordable, high-quality health care
- Removing barriers to child care, early education, and pre-K-12 education
- Increasing access and removing barriers to nutrition programs
- Ensuring children in mixed-status families have safe and adequate housing
- Addressing climate change through the lens of children in immigrant families
- Expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit to all families, regardless of immigration status
The complete letter is available here: https://bit.ly/CTANTransition2021.
The Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN) spearheaded this sign-on effort. CTAN is a network of national and state or local organizations working to defend and support children in the United States in mixed-status immigrant families. Organizations that want to help carry out this mission can join the network here.
