{"id":23020,"date":"2020-05-29T15:04:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T19:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=23020"},"modified":"2020-05-29T15:04:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T19:04:45","slug":"senators-back-accelerated-legalization-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/05\/29\/senators-back-accelerated-legalization-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Senators Back Legal Status for Illegal Aliens during Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During a during a town hall<\/a> co-produced by Univision and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), four current members of the Senate embraced an idea so far out of the mainstream that it is almost laughable. Three were former candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. The idea they were embracing is to provide accelerated legalization for illegal aliens during the coronavirus pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the\nevent was pitched as a discussion about \u201cthe economic crisis triggered by the\nCOVID-19 pandemic in Latino and minority communities,\u201d Univision host Jorge\nRamos quickly took the conversation in another direction and the senators\ndelightedly obliged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramos, who has been forced to defend<\/a> his own immigration advocacy, prefaced his questions to the senators by stating that cannot be individuals cannot be considered both \u201cillegal\u201d and \u201cessential workers.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, he\ncontinued, shouldn\u2019t the United States simply legalize them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answering in\nSpanish, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said Congress should provide \u201caccelerated\u201d\nlegal status to all illegal aliens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to\nfind, for all of these groups, a path to legalization and it should be\naccelerated,\u201d said Menendez. He added that Deferred Action for Childhood\nArrivals (DACA) beneficiaries should also be placed on a path to citizenship\nsince they are working in \u201cessential\u201d jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nrationale that those who violated the law to enter the U.S. and are illegally\nworking here deserve to be awarded the same rights as American workers is\npreposterous, but one also shared by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d responded Harris when asked if Congress should be pushing for legalizing in the middle of a pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris, who\nis on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden\u2019s vice\npresidential shortlist, added that \u201cthey should be granted legalization and put\non a path toward status, and document status and citizenship.\u201d In fact, the\nCalifornian argued a public health crisis only \u201cenhances and even makes more\nimportant the push that we are making to allow a path to citizenship so that\nthey have the full rights that anyone who is working hard\u201d has. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Bernie\nSanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with the Democrats, responded without hesitation\nto the question of legalization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course\nwe should move toward legal status for the undocumented as quickly as we can,\u201d\nreplied Sen. Sanders. The senator said that the pandemic has shown that illegal\nimmigrants working in the fields, in grocery stores and meatpacking plans are \u201csome\nof the most essential people in this country,\u201d so should be granted protection\nfrom deportation and put on a path to citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanders, whose position on illegal immigration<\/a> and guest worker programs has shifted dramatically to the left over the last decade, also wants Congress to \u201cguarantee\u201d health care for \u201cevery person, including undocumented immigrants.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Cory\nBooker (D-N.J.) did not address the question of legalization, but said that\nanyone who is in the country and working in \u201cessential\u201d industries, such as\nfood production and health care, should be able to receive assistance funds.\nThe first COVID-19 relief bills allowed some legal immigrants to collect\nfinancial aid, but those without Social Security numbers, including illegal\nimmigrants, were not eligible. Saying he found it \u201coffensive\u201d that the law\ndenied funds to those with Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs),\nBooker said it is something which merits being challenged in the courts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expedited\nlegalization of some 12 million illegal aliens will be used as an election\nissue, particularly in Arizona and Texas, which have large Hispanic\npopulations, LULAC National President Domingo Garcia told Ramos during the town\nhall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blatantly\nconflating Latinos and illegal aliens, Garcia contended, \u201cWe need to say that\nLatinos are essential workers, that there is not going to be food on your table\nif Latinos are all deported, especially immigrants those that are undocumented.\nThere may not be construction in your cities.\u201d LULAC, he said, will continue to\npressure Congress to, at the very least, give \u201cemergency temporary protective\nstatus\u201d to illegal aliens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nexpected that a Latino special interest organization like LULAC would willingly\nexploit a pandemic to achieve its political ends. But to have sitting members\nof the Senate actively pushing to legalize illegal workers at a time of\nrecord-level unemployment, particularly among the minority population whom they\nclaim to represent, is political pandering at its worst. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a during a town hall co-produced by Univision and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), four current members of the Senate embraced an idea so far out of the mainstream that it is almost laughable. Three were former candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. The idea they were embracing is to provide<\/p>\n

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