For four years, the Trump administration has unleashed nearly 1,000 anti-immigrant policies that tear families apart and eliminate protections for those seeking safety. To move our nation from crisis to recovery to the America we aspire to be, a new administration can transform our current immigration system to support thriving families and communities and power our local economies. Endorsed by ImmDef and over 170 of the nation’s leading immigration, faith, labor and progressive advocacy organizations, the 2021 Immigration Action Plan lays out a blueprint for the next administration to create new opportunities for growth and prosperity and, most importantly, restore human dignity in an immigration system that has advanced cruel, xenophobic, and ineffective policies.
TEN ACTIONS TO TRANSFORM AND MODERNIZE AMERICA’S IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
ACTION 1: Prioritize Equity and Harm Reduction in the Immigration System: Provide protection to individuals with meaningful ties to the United States and pause deportations until a comprehensive review of the immigration enforcement system is completed.
ACTION 2: End the Anti-Black and Discriminatory Targeting of Certain U.S. Citizens and Immigrants: Ensure fairness by repealing the Muslim, African, refugee and asylum bans, wealth tests and discriminatory vetting practices.
ACTION 3: Rebuild the U.S. Economy: Support the legalization of immigrants in a future economic recovery package and protect the rights of all workers.
ACTION 4: Commit to DHS Transformational Change: Appoint cabinet and agency leaders who are representative of immigrant communities and committed to transformational change. Establish a White House Office of New Americans.
ACTION 5: Decriminalize Immigration: End all criminal prosecutions for migration-related offenses, end family separation, protect sensitive locations from enforcement actions and hold public officials accountable for abuses.
ACTION 6: Protect Immigrant Children, Families and Communities: Disentangle local law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement, end policies that jeopardize the safety of immigrant victims of crime and violence, restore and expand childsensitive policies and procedures to facilitate fair immigration proceedings for children and ensure access to health care during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
ACTION 7: Phase Out Immigration Jails and Fund Community-Based Case Management Programs: End family detention and contracts with private prisons and county jails, apply a presumption of release and invest in community-based case management programs.
ACTION 8: Establish Thriving, Rights-Respecting Borders: Halt border wall construction, protect due process and end racial profiling, and increase safe channels of entry for education, business, trade and travel.
ACTION 9: Reimagine the Role of the Immigration Courts: Create an independent immigration court system, ensure due process for those in removal proceedings and provide access to counsel.
ACTION 10: Restore the Right to Seek and Receive Protection from Persecution, Torture, and Other Serious Human Rights Violations: Restore and improve the U.S. asylum, refugee and other humanitarian programs
Read the full Action Plan here.