A pathway to citizenship would be transformative for millions of people in the United States. For the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers on visas, whose immigration status is tied to their employers, a pathway to citizenship would mean the ability to find alternative jobs and leave dangerous working conditions. It’s a matter of life or death.
This past weekend in INSIDER, Mari Perales Sánchez, CDM’s Senior Policy Manager and Elizabeth Memorial Advocate for Migrant Worker Women (EMMA), published an op-ed arguing why the budget reconciliation should include a path to citizenship for as many members of her community as possible — including the thousands of essential migrant workers who come to the US on temporary visas.
Mari successfully challenged the Trump administration’s cancellation of DACA at the Supreme Court. She knows the threats the immigrant community faces from our current system that prioritizes labor exploitation over human rights — and how a path to citizenship can improve labor standards, bring and keep families together, and protect livelihoods.
The pandemic demonstrated that migrant workers are essential workers, and we can’t allow Congress to leave them out at a pivotal moment in the fight for their rights. Will you join our fight to make sure that migrant workers shape the policies that affect them?