CALL ON THE INCOMING BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND THE NEW CONGRESS TO PROTECT AND LEGALIZE IMMIGRANTS AND UNDO THE HARM CAUSED BY THE TRUMP
ADMINISTRATION
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago and the United States were founded by immigrants, who traveled from around the world to seek a better life; and
WHEREAS, Our nation's immigration system should uphold our basic values of family, economic opportunity, and fairness; and
WHEREAS, The US Immigration system, with long backlogs, deaths on the border, and an undocumented population of eleven, million immigrants, including half a million in Illinois, is broken and is in dire need of reform, including a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented; and
WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance .of immigrants, including the undocumented, as "essential workers" who have sustained our City's and nation's health care system, food chain, and other vital services^ often at great risk to their own and theirfamilies' health and well-being; and
WHEREAS, The administration of Donald Trump further aggravated the flaws within our immigration system, including by unleashing Immigration enforcement; separating children and parents at the southern border; gutting refugee and asylum processing; further complicating legal immigration through policies such as the new public charge rule; attempting to end protective programs such as DACA and Temporary Protected Status (TPS); and imposing a. new naturalization test and further complicating the process to apply for citizenship; and
WHEREAS, The election of Joe Biden as our nation's next president provides an opportunity to not only undo his predecessor's harmful policies, but also; to address the more basic issues with our immigration system and enact a pathway to citizenship that would protect DACA and TPS recipients, essential workers, and all other undocumented Immigrants; and ,
WHEREAS, This City Council has historically supported our City's immigrants and specifically called for...
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