TX Largest Immigration Provider Releases The State of Immigration the Country Didn’t Hear About in the House Chamber Tonight
San Antonio, TX- In response to President Biden’s State of the Union Address this evening, Texas’s largest immigration legal provider, RAICES, released an open letter to the American people about the state of immigration in the U.S. –– countering the misleading rhetoric fanning the flames of a government-made crisis fueled by cruel inaction.
“Today, President Biden embraced the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in this country, formally adopting a more radical anti-immigrant position. He succumbed to the pressures of a political climate that is increasingly hostile towards immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking people and families,” says Faisal Al-Juburi, Chief External Affairs Officer at RAICES. He continues, “We remind President Biden that no human being is illegal –– and dangerous rhetoric inevitably leads to more violence against our community.”
For the first time, immigration restriction has risen as a leading policy priority for Americans across the political spectrum. The heightened tensions we’re seeing right now are stoked by misinformation that yields panic — resulting from decades of failed deterrence policies and petty politics wielded by our elected officials. It’s well past time to take meaningful action to fix our country’s broken and outdated immigration system.
Americans support fair and just immigration policies that meet the needs of this generation and acknowledge the humanitarian considerations central to an effective immigration system. Instead of calling for $20 billion in immigration “enforcement” funding, we should instead be investing these resources in considerable updates that can be made to our immigration infrastructure.
Dolores K. Schroeder, CEO at RAICES adds, “The nation is long overdue for robust legislation that is designed to protect the legal and human right to seek asylum, provide a pathway to citizenship for our neighbors, address the systemic flaws in our current immigration policy, and reaffirm our commitment to becoming a country that upholds everyone’s innate human dignity.”
RAICES immigration experts are available for further comments on this developing story. Read the open letter at raicestexas.org/sotu
RAICES, formally known as the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Headquartered in Texas and with national reach, RAICES promotes migrant justice by providing legal services, social services case management, and rights advocacy for immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. Learn more at raicestexas.org and follow us on Instagram.
