Biden Administration Must Work with Communities to Eradicate White Supremacy to Fully Address Changes Needed in the Immigration System
(San Francisco, CA)—The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) will work with policymakers to ensure that President Biden’s immigration plan envisions relief for all members of our communities, and the ILRC will continue to campaign for the passage of The New Way Forward Act, an important tool to address racial disparities in the criminal legal and immigration systems.
While President Biden signed an order calling on Congress to work on legislation that would give DACA recipients permanent resident status and a pathway to citizenship, he must go further to include the entire undocumented community. President Biden must also look beyond undoing the Trump administration’s policies, he must be bold in his vision.
“Immigration legislation must reimagine our current system that criminalizes and penalizes Black and Brown immigrants into one that honors the current contributions and historical legacy of immigrants,” said ILRC Staff Attorney Veronica Garcia.
Biden’s plans on immigration must be bold to overcome white supremacy that was given free rein during the Trump administration, said ILRC’s Deputy Director Sally Kinoshita.
“President Biden cannot succeed on changing immigration policies, without working with communities to eradicate structural racism that permeates through every crevice of the federal government,” Kinoshita said. “The ILRC is committed to standing with Black and immigrant-led organizations and communities as we fight together for racial justice and thriving communities.”
In this Blueprint for the Next Administration, the ILRC sets forth demands the Biden administration must adopt to end “pernicious surveillance, arrests, raids, shackles, incarceration, and family separation.”
“While we expect a restoration of due process, we urge this administration to do more. The ILRC supports the demands of our communities to abolish our inhumane systems that target, criminalize, detain, deport, and separate immigrants and their families,” Kinoshita said.