By Analise Ortiz, ACLU Communications Strategist

For the first time in a decade, Congress has a real opportunity to deliver a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants. For too long, immigrants who’ve called America home for most of their lives have still been forced to live in fear of deportation and the possibility they could be torn apart from their families and communities.

Congress proposed legislative solutions this year among growing momentum and pressure from constituents. More than 70% of people support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants. But the Senate parliamentarian has ruled against two proposals to put immigrants–including people who came to the country as kids, people with a form of protection called Temporary Protected Status, farm workers and essential workers–on a pathway to citizenship. We are angry, but not defeated.

We recently joined Human Rights Watch and more than 50 other civil rights and human rights organizations to call on the White House and Congressional leadership to find an alternate route to deliver on the long-held promise to enact a path to citizenship and lasting protections for undocumented immigrants. Congress must do its job and get the job done this year. If Congress fails, millions of people will be denied the chance to live free from the threat of deportation, again.

We talked with directly-impacted people about the urgency of this moment.

Paola Garcia

Paola Garcia came to the United States from León, Guanajuato, Mexico when she was 2-years-old with both of her parents. Ever since then, they’ve been involved in an ongoing struggle to become citizens. Paola’s dad endured a fight for his own citizenship that lasted more than a decade and went all the way to the West Virginia Supreme Court. He eventually won his legal battle, but by that time, Paola had aged out of being given priority status to become a citizen. She is currently protected from deportation by the DACA program, which continues to undergo legal challenge and was never intended as a permanent solution.

“The Biden administration said they would do their best to make some type of immigration reform in the first 100 days,” Paola said. “Those 100 days are up and I’m still waiting unfortunately. The only thing that could grant me access as a legal citizen here would be if there was some type of legislation.”

Paola is urging Congress to pass a pathway to citizenship so she can continue being an advocate in her community without fear of deportation.

“If I could say something to Congress, I would ask them ‘What inspired you from the very beginning to become a representative for people?’ When you think about that answer, most of the reasons they would give are the same reasons that immigrants come to West Virginia, the same reasons that immigrants come to the United States. We want to contribute. We make America richer – not just financially – culturally, physically, mentally, spiritually, all of that. We need all of that, especially right now. America is in a big world of hurt. We need people to take up responsibility. We need people to become community leaders. The majority of us just want to better ourselves, the country, and our communities just like anyone who is in Congress.”

Irma Flores

Irma Flores came to the United States 20 years ago following an earthquake in El Salvador.

“I made the decision to come to this country to try to find better opportunities and better education for my son and my daughter,” Irma said.

Irma was granted Temporary Protected Status. She had trouble navigating the school system for her young kids and decided to start educating other immigrant families to help them navigate the schools too.

“My commitment with the immigrant community has been supporting them, bringing services, and letting them know we have rights because that is something we didn’t know when we came to this country,” Irma said.

Irma now has five grandchildren and is fighting for a pathway to citizenship because it will provide stability for her family and allow them to travel to see family members in El Salvador. Her family was hit by tragedy when her father died last year.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to go and say goodbye to him because we can’t. I don’t want that to happen if something happens to my mom. A path to citizenship will help people like us, human beings who have family in other countries and we are not able to visit. We need to have that connection to see our families. I have seen a lot of families in the same situation,” Irma said.

Irma is urging Congress to act upon its promises and deliver for families like hers.

“After the many promises they have given to us, it’s just time,” Irma said.

Omar Salinas-Chacón

Omar Salinas-Chacón came to the United States after his family became targets of gang violence back home in El Salvador. Omar is a DACA recipient and says the instability of the temporary program impacts every aspect of his life.

“I have to renew my DACA every year and a half and that’s really as far as I can plan out my life. I would like for that to change,” Omar said.

Omar is active in his community as the Kentucky State Manager of the Save the Children Action Network and a board member for the ACLU of Kentucky. He is asking Congress to pass a pathway to citizenship and to consider the desperation so many immigrant families face.

“I want Congress to think: What would it take for them to pack up their entire family and go to a country where they don’t even know the language? Imagine how desperate you are to do that? We don’t choose to leave our homes. All I’m asking is that I become part of this home I’ve called home for over 20 years now,” Omar said.

Jesús Benavidez

Jesús Benavides has lived in the United States for 17 years. He works construction and is involved with his community through La Colmena, a group that organizes immigrant workers in Staten Island.

“In Mexico, the jobs do not pay people enough. I came here to have better opportunities and to help my parents,” Jesús said.

Jesús suffered the loss of his father last year and said the grief has been even more challenging because he is far away from his family.

“Not being able to see my dad was hard. It is hard because sometimes I remember things from there, especially my parents. Not being able to see them, not being able to talk to them in person, it’s hard,” Jesús said.

Jesús is asking Congress to pass a pathway to citizenship for immigrant workers like him.

“They need to work to pass a pathway to citizenship for the millions of immigrants who are here because we’ve been working really hard during the pandemic. We are essential workers who helped New York and the entire country and kept the economy moving forward,” Jesús said.

By Milo Inglehart, COVID-19 Litigation Fellow, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project

Research shows that reductions in the United States incarceration rate would have prevented millions of COVID-19 cases and tens of thousands of deaths, both inside jails and prisons and in their surrounding communities. For those of us working with incarcerated people during the pandemic, this confirms what we already know: decarceration will save lives and is a vital part of pandemic response. So why, with the Delta variant tearing through the country and a new, vaccine resistant variant discovered, are we not seeing more releases?

In part, this is due to a failure in leadership. Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants explained the dilemma in his comments on a lawsuit to increase releases from the state’s detention facilities: “We’ve got the governor saying, ‘Not my problem, I shouldn’t be ordered to do something.’ We’ve got the Department of Correction saying, ‘We manage the prisons, the only thing we’re involved with is medical parole,’ and now we’ve got the parole board saying that it’s not their problem. So who’s supposed to do it?” Justice Gants asked.

COVID releases that did occur prove that a range of government actors have the power to release people when they deem it appropriate. This is not a question of authority; it is a question of will.

Governors have the power to commute sentences, as they did everywhere from Washington state to North Carolina. State legislatures can pass bills to release people early, as New Jersey’s did. Corrections departments can expedite releases or release people early, as many states, including Wisconsin and Iowa’s, did. State courts can identify people for early release or appoint special masters to do this as they did in Maryland and Hawaii, or expand those eligible for release hearings as in Massachusetts. Federal courts can act similarly, as when a federal judge ordered federal immigration authorities to immediately release people from Pennsylvania prisons. Criminal judicial systems, superior courts, and district attorneys can adopt policies that fix the presumptive bail amount for certain charged offenses at $0, so that people are not locked in jails due to their poverty and inability to raise enough money to buy their freedom pending trial.

With thousands dead from COVID-19 in U.S. jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers, the failure of officials with the authority to release people to do so is inexcusable. The evidence shows that when jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers reduced the number of people locked up, public safety did not suffer, and that releases save lives.

While ensuring vaccine access is vital, it is not a substitute for decarceration. Breakthrough infections remain a danger even for those who are vaccinated, and vaccinated people are still able to spread the disease to others, including those who are unable to be vaccinated. During a July COVID-19 outbreak in a highly-vaccinated Texas federal prison, for example, 70 percent of vaccinated people were infected, along with 93 percent of unvaccinated people in the prison.

Carceral settings, communal living spaces that often have tight quarters and poor ventilation, are an ideal environment for spreading the highly infectious Delta variant, and the discovery of the vaccine-resistant Mu variant further proves the danger of relying on vaccines alone. The World Health Organization has emphasized the “need to do everything possible to stop the spread of the virus in order to prevent mutations that may reduce the efficacy of existing vaccines.”

As the U.S. battles the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to learn from the mistakes of the first waves, including the failure to release large numbers of people from the prisons, jails, and detention centers that became hotbeds for the virus. Judges, elected officials, and correctional officers have a choice to make as they respond to this wave. They can choose to value public health and the safety of incarcerated people over the will to punish no matter the cost.