John,

On both sides of the aisle, our government’s leaders are demonizing migrants and asylum seekers.

Last month, I joined immigrants and human rights groups in my district to speak out against hurtful anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric.

In last week’s State of the Union address, President Biden used a slur to reference undocumented immigrants and again pushed for the Senate to pass a bill with far-right U.S. border policies to end asylum protections, speed up mass deportations, and lock up more refugees.

That bill would spend unprecedented billions of taxpayer dollars to expand notoriously inhumane detention centers (including for-profit prisons that work with ICE) and to profile immigrant families with 24-hour “suspicionless surveillance” technology.

We can’t keep using this “prisons first, humanity later” approach to immigration. Instead we need to invest in a functional immigration process that reunites families, welcomes migrants and refugees, and expands pathways to citizenship for the millions of undocumented people who already call this country home.

Please sign to tell Congress and the White House: We need citizenship and family reunification, not detention and deportations.

Our immigration system is so broken that many people are waiting 10 to 20 years to get interviews scheduled in order to unite with their family members. That’s the crisis with immigration, not the fact that people want to build a better life in the U.S.

As a local pastor reminded us at the recent gathering in my district for immigrants’ rights: "Each and every one of us is a person of sacred worth and dignity who deserves not only to survive, but to thrive."

In solidarity,

Rashida

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Fri, Mar 15, 2024
Subject: Sign to demand citizenship instead of cages for our immigrant neighbors
To: [email protected]

John,

As a former immigration attorney and a daughter of immigrants, I promise to keep speaking up for immigrants’ rights. I’ve been horrified at the dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies from Democrats in Congress and the White House.

In both bodies of Congress, we’re seeing members voting for xenophobic, fear mongering bills including spending billions of our taxpayer dollars on war and on far-right U.S. border policies to end asylum protections, speed up mass deportations, and lock up more refugees.

President Biden endorsed that bipartisan Senate border bill, invited Trump to “join” him in working on it, and referenced it in last week’s State of the Union address as a priority. In that State of the Union speech, the president called undocumented immigrants “illegals,” prompting a response from human rights groups to affirm that No human being is illegal.

We must decriminalize the deeply human act of migration, affirm the rights of all people, and finally create a real path to citizenship for our immigrant neighbors who’ve lived here for years. As Michigan United explains: “We need citizenship and family reunification, not detention and deportations.”

Add your name today to tell Democrats in the White House and Congress: Don’t pander to far-right racists on immigration. Don’t dehumanize our immigrant neighbors. Fulfill your campaign promises to push for a more just and humane immigration process, including creating and expanding pathways to citizenship.

In my community, thousands of U.S. citizens can’t get their spouses access to a legal pathway to citizenship because of layers of bureaucracy that leave people waiting 10 or 20 years for an interview.

I’m reaffirming the promise I made to the residents of my congressional district when they sent me to Congress: I will continue taking meaningful actions to end hateful Trump-era immigration policies, reunite families, welcome migrants and asylum seekers, and reform our outdated and inhumane immigration system.

President Biden and other Democrats also made campaign promises to reduce deportations, reunite families, protect people fleeing danger, and support the millions of undocumented people who are already living and working in our communities.

But since Trump left office, deportations have increased, and many Trump-era immigration policies have continued or expanded. This “prisons first, humanity later” approach fails our immigrant communities.

The recent Senate bill, which President Biden endorsed and again referenced in his State of the Union address as a priority, would spend an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars to expand notoriously inhumane detention centers—including for-profit prisons that work with ICE.

The bill would also send over a billion of our tax dollars for 24-hour “suspicionless surveillance” technology that could be used to profile and harm all immigrant families in the U.S..

Kids are still in cages, and ICE still runs hundreds of abusive jails across the country as part of the world’s largest immigration detention system. Progressives and activists have talked about the need to defund ICE, not send them more money to violate more people’s rights.

Please sign to tell Congress and the White House: We need citizenship and family reunification, not detention and deportations.

Thank you. Together we can build a future with dignity and safety for all people.

In solidarity,

Rashida