John, 
We are furious: today, Congress failed immigrant communities across the country by passing an Omnibus bill that does not include a pathway to citizenship for 11 million people. This may have been Congress’s last opportunity to pass meaningful immigration reform before Republicans take control of the House come January. But in Congress it was another day, another billions of dollars for the immigration deportation pipeline.  

Congress passed an Omnibus bill that included $16.5 billion in funding for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $8.4 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while only providing $800 million in funding to support asylum seekers and, once again, failed to provide permanent protections for Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. 

With congressional leadership divided for at least the next two years, protections for immigrants fall in Biden’s hands — and they are long overdue. We’ve been waiting for the Biden administration to follow through on promises made during his presidential campaign, ensuring that we would see meaningful immigration legislation upon his election. While our federal leaders stand by idly, our immigrant communities remain in harm's way without any pathway to legalization.
 

Conservative courts and leaders continue to demonize our communities and use people who are simply seeking freedom from violence as political prey. But we won’t stop fighting until we secure the protections our communities need. While Congress may have failed us, we will now look to our leaders in New York to do more to keep families together. Our fight at the state level is just beginning and we look forward to sharing more on our plans for the next legislative session. As the year comes to a close, we’ll take some much needed rest and come back in 2023 knowing our work isn’t over until all immigrant New Yorkers receive the protections, dignity and respect they deserve. 

¡Sí se puede!

Murad Awawdeh
Executive Director