Dear Senator,
On behalf of the 60 affiliates of the AFL-CIO who represent 12.5 million working people, I urge you to support both the Dream Act (S. 365) and the SECURE Act (S. 1727) of 2023. These bills will offer a long-overdue path to citizenship for vital members of our workforce, our communities, and our unions.
Dreamers and TPS (Temporary Protected Status) recipients help to feed, educate, serve, build, and care for our country. Yet despite decades of contributions, including frontline work during a global pandemic, their status remains temporary and in legal limbo. S. 365 and S. 1727 will offer working families the more secure future they need and deserve, and provide them with ladders of opportunity that will also help strengthen our economy and our democracy.
America’s unions are committed to working with Congress to create an immigration system that can help lift standards in our workplaces and ensure equal and enforceable rights for all working people. We remain steadfast in our fight for a broad path to citizenship for all those whose labor helps our country to prosper, and the Dream and SECURE Acts bring us one step closer to that goal.
Around the country, workers are rising up to demand fair treatment on the job and a fair share of the wealth we help to create. Extending permanent protections to Dreamers and TPS holders will uplift workers’ rights and help protect our right to organize and fight together for a more just and inclusive economy and society.
As unions prepare to respond to historic levels of federal investment in infrastructure and clean energy jobs, we need immigration policies that promote permanent rights and protections for the current members of our workforce. These bills will help us ensure a diverse, trained, sustainable and empowered workforce for the future.
Enabling millions of people to live and work without fear in our country will help prevent exploitation and keep all of us safe on the job. Today, on the 11th anniversary of DACA, we urge you to co-sponsor the Dream and SECURE Acts.
Sincerely,
William Samuel
Director, Government Affairs