Immigration rights organizations and their allies are pushing Democrats to go well beyond investigating the Trump administration. They want Congress to tackle generational issues such as a pathway to citizenship.
In a letter shared first with POLITICO, a coalition of more than 150 organizations urged lawmakers to “prioritize a bold agenda” on immigration in the next Congress and answer voters’ concerns about the tone and tenor of the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown.
They want oversight investigations probing whether the Department of Homeland Security broke the law in its implementation of a mass deportation push. But they're also looking for Democrats to pursue a pathway to citizenship or permanent legal status for some unauthorized immigrants, a clawback of funds given to immigration agencies via past reconciliation bills, and changes to the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection carry out their jobs.
“The harms inflicted on immigrant communities by this administration will echo for generations,” the groups wrote. “Congress has the opportunity now to stand with communities under siege and show the world that accountability and justice are possible.”
The letter shows that immigrant rights groups, once the lodestar for the Democratic Party’s immigration policies, are looking to play a major role in the party’s policy debates over the next few years. And it underscores some of the divisions within the party between progressives, who want to take a much more ambitious swing at current immigration laws, and moderate Democrats, who have pushed for a more limited overhaul of Trump administration policies.
While Trump said he is willing to negotiate with Democrats on immigration policy, including some pathway to status for longtime unauthorized immigrants, Trump’s decision to elevate immigration hard-liner and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, to the role of White House chief of staff could complicate Democrats’ efforts to get ambitious legislation across the finish line.
