Dear Friend,

By now, I'm sure you've heard all about the tragedy that happened on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last week. A container ship struck one of the bridge's piers, leading to a complete collapse of the bridge. Six members of an immigrant construction crew working on the bridge were reported missing; two bodies have been recovered, and four are presumed dead.

Unbelievably, right-wing elected officials and pundits rushed to make the issue about themselves and their pet causes. Fox News host Maria Bartiromo immediately tried to link the tragedy to Biden's border security policies. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) blamed the Biden administration's recent infrastructure bills.

You know what these extremists have not acknowledged? The construction workers were immigrants -- Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans -- who came to the U.S. to better their lives and help their families. Along the way, they became essential workers helping to build crucial infrastructure in America.

Our country depends so much on the contributions of workers like them. Roughly 2.2 million construction workers are immigrants; in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. region, immigrants make up nearly 40% of the construction workforce.

As Dr. Carlos Martín, Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, told us, “In some areas of the country, such as the Southwest, all work crews are immigrants. This trend is even more pronounced in some hazardous occupations, like construction laborers, roofers, and drywallers.”

Essential construction workers have always borne the brunt of workplace injuries and fatalities. In 2021, 274 foreign-born Hispanic and Latino construction workers died on the job.

Advocates have called upon President Biden to use his executive power to the fullest extent possible to grant work permits and legal status to longtime immigrants like the workers who were on the bridge. Such an action would be the least we could do for the essential immigrant workers who do so much to help our country and economy.

If you'd like to help provide relief to the families affected by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, click here.

Thanks for all that you do,

Ivonne