Virtually all of us have an immigrant story in our family. When I was an infant, my parents came to the Detroit area in the mid-1970s to complete their medical training with every intention of moving back to India. But as with so many, they fell in love with the freedom and opportunity of our nation and decided to become Americans. A decade later, we became naturalized US citizens.
I have the privilege of both representing my community and being the only immigrant/naturalized US citizen serving in elected office in Pennsylvania at the state or federal level.
In this tragic, but very American moment, when our generation has to stand up for what type of nation we will be, I take seriously my responsibility to advocate for the importance of immigration to Pennsylvania and our country.
That’s why I have co-sponsored and publicly called for passing legislation to welcome immigrants to Pennsylvania, empower Pennsylvanians to report civil rights violations in immigration enforcement to our Human Relations Commission, and urge Congress to not further fund ICE without reforms to its policies and priorities.
I also have called for comprehensive immigration reform to couple border security with more channels of legal immigration and a path to regularize the status of undocumented immigrants.
