National Coalition of Immigrant Rights Groups Calls for Senate to Pass Inclusive Stimulus Package and Hold USCIS Accountable
WASHINGTON – With the start of a new legislative session in the U.S. Senate, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) and its member organizations appeal to lawmakers to include all residents in COVID-19 related legislation. Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans, a national coalition of 41 immigrant and refugee rights organizations in 37 states, released the following statement:
“Now that the Senate is back in session, it needs to roll up its sleeves and get to work so that the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic includes all of our communities. Thousands of immigrant families with U.S. citizen children continue to face the economic fallout of the epidemic. They are in desperate need of stimulus relief to cover basic living and healthcare needs.
The Senate also needs to hold the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) accountable by attaching its funding conditions. Immigrants, who already pay high application fees, should not be made the victims of USCIS’ willful mismanagement, which threatens thousands of public service workers’ livelihood. Our communities have suffered for too long while the Senate has done more than stay silent; it has negligently remained on the sidelines.
We say, ‘No more.’ Getting out of the economic crisis calls for necessary agency accountability and oversight of fiscal management. These should not be partisan issues. The House of Representatives has passed the HEROES Act and The Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act. We demand that the Senate act now.”
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