***For Immediate Release***
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Contact:
Sierra Salgado Pirigyi
Communications Director, Nebraska Appleseed
(402) 438-8853 ext 116
sierrasp@neappleseed.org
RELEASE: New protections create long overdue stability for some long-time Nebraskans
Today, the Biden Administration announced a new process that will help keep families together and increase stability for immigrant community members married to U.S. citizens and for DACA residents.
Nebraska Appleseed released the following statement from Darcy Tromanhauser, Immigrants & Communities Program Director:
“After nearly 40 years of lack of action by Congress to fix our outdated immigration laws in a way that creates stability for local families, employers, and whole communities, the Biden Administration has announced a new set of temporary protections for some longtime community members.
We welcome these critically important protections and the temporary stability they would create for Nebraska community members who are part of the fabric of local communities and families. This announcement comes after decades of advocacy from immigrant leaders and local community leaders, and together we celebrate this meaningful step in the right direction.
At the same time, temporary protections are not enough and still leave longtime community members and whole Nebraska communities living with harmful uncertainty.
Our communities are strongest when longtime community members – moms, dads, neighbors, coworkers, young professionals, health care workers, agricultural workers, educators, and many others – have permanent stability and the ability to apply for permanent residency and citizenship.
There are solutions. It has been 23 years since the Dream Act was first introduced and nearly 40 years since Congress has taken meaningful action to update our federal immigration laws, such as a simple update to the Registry date (an existing part of the law with a long bipartisan history that was designed to be a way for longtime community members to apply for permanent residency).
We applaud this temporary protection and urge Congress to at long last take the sensible steps toward long-term solutions that local communities have been calling for for so many years.”
Learn more about local Nebraska community members’ experiences: Nebraska video stories.
The new protections apply to nearly half a million spouses of U.S. citizens, including eligible DACA community members, streamlining processes that will mean increased stability from unnecessary deportation and family separation, access to work authorization, and possible processes to be able to apply for residency. Learn more here.
Nebraska Appleseed will share practical community resources as they become available in the coming days.
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