Urgency to Pass Immigration Reform

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUIZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today on the eve of President Biden's State of the Union speech to strongly urge Congress to pass immigration reform to boost our economy, grow our GDP, and create jobs across the country.

Right now, our economy is roaring back after the depths of a global pandemic, and workers and families are still feeling the effects. As we continue this recovery and work to grow our economy, lower costs, and create jobs, it is now more crucial than ever that we secure a pathway to citizenship for the millions of hardworking, immigrant, essential workers across the country who contribute to our economy every day.

We must secure a pathway to citizenship for the farmworkers and meatpackers who feed America, the construction workers who build American cities, the restaurant and hotel workers who serve our families, and the nurses, doctors, and healthcare workers who have cared for us in this public health crisis. Now is the time to deliver on immigration reform to boost our economy and keep families together.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus join me in this fight to urgently act. That is why we have worked tirelessly with the Biden administration to enact policy changes to build a more efficient, just, fair, and humane immigration system that reflects our American values.

We have pursued an all-of-the-above and any-which-way approach to achieving immigration reform using every tool at our disposal to secure a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, farmworkers, TPS holders, and essential workers.

In the House, CHC members have introduced and passed meaningful bipartisan bills to achieve that goal. As the proud son of farmworkers, I was thrilled when Democrats, Republicans, growers, and workers came together to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. This bipartisan bill would give farmworkers and their families a pathway to citizenship.

Doing so would stabilize our workforce and the price of our food, making your produce, my produce, and everybody's produce available at a reasonable cost. The CHC also led efforts to pass the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act to allow DACA, temporary protected status, and deferred enforced departure beneficiaries to earn permanent residence and continue contributing to our workforce and economy.

CHC, with House Democrats, delivered. Unfortunately, Republicans in the Senate blocked these commonsense bills that would benefit all Americans and help keep families together. However, we didn't let their refusal to do what is right for this country and American families stand in the way of our work to enact positive change.

That is why the CHC led efforts to pass immigration reform through the Build Back Better Act and provide a much-needed pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, essential workers, and farmworkers, and meaningful protections and work permits. Out of the House, we passed significant reforms to address the historic labor shortages our Nation faces, grow our GDP, and fight rising costs for American families.

Now, with these much-needed provisions awaiting consideration in the Senate, I call on my Senate colleagues to take up the Build Back Better Act without delay and pass it with a pathway to citizenship. I call on the Senate to pass the American Dream and Promise Act. I call on the Senate to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

We must urgently pass immigration reform right now. We will work with the administration to achieve positive, meaningful immigration changes. It is our duty to our Nation to give hardworking, immigrant, essential workers the opportunity to stay in the country that they call home.

Our Nation's immigrants are professionals, entrepreneurs, doctors, nurses, and essential workers who make America stronger. We are at our strongest when we embrace our immigrant communities.

Later tonight, during President Biden's State of the Union address, CHC members will be virtually joined by Dreamers from our districts to highlight their contributions to our country, their home. Dreamers are part of our efforts to rebuild and to recover. They are our future and our constant inspiration in this fight.

Tonight, I am proud to be joined by Alma from Thermal, California, my constituent, to say: ``You are not forgotten.'' ``No son olvidados.''

You are home.

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