HR0215 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0215 LRB102 18071 MST 25089 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Illinois is home to 1.8 million immigrants who have traveled to the State of Illinois from around the world to seek a better life and to 1.7 million U.S.-born citizens who have at least one immigrant parent; and

WHEREAS, Our nation's immigration system should uphold our basic values of family, economic opportunity, fairness, and second chances; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. immigration system, which has resulted in long backlogs and deaths on the border, is unjust and inequitable and is in dire need of reforms, including a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants; and

WHEREAS, The current coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of immigrants, including the undocumented, as "essential workers" who have sustained, for both our State and our nation, our health care system, food chain, and other vital services, often at great risk to their own and their families' health and well-being; and

WHEREAS, The administration of Donald Trump further aggravated the flaws within our immigration system by unleashing immigration enforcement, separating children and parents at the southern border, gutting refugee and asylum processing, further complicating legal immigration through such policies as the new public charge rule, attempting to end protective programs such as DACA and Temporary Protected Status (TPS), imposing a new naturalization test, further complicating the process to apply for citizenship, and instituting many other policies that have created fear, confusion, and pain among families throughout our State and nation; and

WHEREAS, The election and inauguration of Joe Biden as president provides an opportunity to not only undo his predecessor's harmful policies but to also address the more basic inequities and racial disparities within our immigration system and to enact a pathway to citizenship that would protect DACA and TPS recipients, essential workers, and all undocumented immigrants, currently numbering approximately 11 million nationwide and 450,000 in Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Current immigration proposals in Congress would exclude those convicted of prior felonies and misdemeanors, provisions that exclude approximately one-third of potential applicants, disproportionately affecting Black immigrants; and

WHEREAS, Excluding those who have already served their time and are currently contributing to their communities is a form of double punishment, which is antithetical to our values as a state and as a nation; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has historically welcomed immigrants, and elected officials of both major political parties have supported legislation, policies, and programs that have enabled immigrants to work, learn, raise families, build businesses and communities, and express their voice in the civic life of our State; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has more recently taken national leadership on welcoming policies for immigrants, including funding for citizenship and community outreach programs, educational aid for immigrant students, driver's licenses for immigrant motorists, and protections against federal immigration enforcement policies that undermine relations between immigrant communities and local police; and

WHEREAS, These policies adopted by the State of Illinois intend to separate state law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement and are designed to protect all immigrants in our State regardless of prior interaction with the legal system; and

WHEREAS, At this moment when our nation faces a reckoning on racial justice, prompted by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many other Black Americans but reflecting historic discrimination and disinvestment against Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, we need to ensure that our immigration laws and policies and other laws that affect immigrant communities must be grounded in racial equity; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we call upon the Biden Administration to take immediate steps, including executive orders, administrative policy changes, and regulatory changes, to undo the harmful immigration policies of the Trump Administration, including but not limited to halting and dismantling the immigration enforcement machinery that has harmed and separated thousands of Illinois families; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call upon the Biden Administration, Senator Richard Durbin, Senator Tammy Duckworth, and the Illinois U.S. House Delegation to enact legislation to create a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants, fix other provisions of our immigrations laws that exclude and otherwise harm immigrants, address the root causes of international migration, and ground our immigration laws in justice and equity; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to President Biden, the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, Senators Durbin and Duckworth, and all members of the Illinois U.S. House Delegation.