APALA Critiques Biden’s Decision to Reopen Detention Camps Within his First 100 Days, Calls for More Visionary Actions like the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 that Increases Pathways To Citizenship and Lifts up Immigrant Families

For Immediate Release: March 9, 2021
Contact: Michelle Loo | [email protected]

​Washington, DC - APALA is dismayed by the Biden Administration’s decision to reopen a child detention camp in Carrizo Springs, TX. On top of the thousands of deportations that have continued, it is critical to oppose this detention and deportation machine. 
As an organization powered by immigrant workers and allies, our vision of a just immigration system is one that ends detentions and deportations and protects families, refugees, and asylum seekers in ways that are informed by love, empathy and justice. This means creating fast pathways to citizenship for all migrants, expediting reunification processes for people who come here, and diverting funding from detention camps to social services. Permanently closing the children’s detention camp in Carrizo Springs and others like it will be vital to our nation. 
On the other hand, the introduction of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 in the House and Senate is a step towards the right direction as it includes provisions to:

• create a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants including Dreamers, TPS holders;
• recapture and create new opportunities for family based immigration while eliminating discrimination against LGBTQ+ families (Judy Chu’s Reuniting Families Act);
• eliminate per-country caps for employment based immigration, improving access to green cards for workers in lower-wage industries;
• authorizes dependents of H-1b holders to work in the US; and
• restrict the executive power to enact future discriminatory bans such as the Muslim and African Bans and prohibit religious discrimination in our immigration laws (Judy Chu’s No Ban Act) 

However, The U.S. Citizenship Act could be strengthened if it did not include provisions to carve out large populations of immigrants from its protections. Currently, it denies immigrants with LPI status access to vital health care and it denies immigrants who have been harmed by the racist legal system from any of these protections. 
APALA Chapters and members are prepared to continue taking action against the U.S. deportation and detention machine, and advocating for inclusive immigration policies.