By Nelson A. King From Caribbean Life

After the Senate Parliamentarian, an unelected bureaucrat, ruled that Congressional Democrats’ plan to provide temporary work permits without a roadmap to citizenship, does not meet the Senate requirements of reconciliation, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization for more than 200 groups in New York State, has made it clear that “our communities don’t deserve anything less than green cards.”

NYIC has joined national partners in calling for Senate Majority Leader Charles “Chuck” Schumer to include a roadmap to citizenship in the Senate’s version of the Build Back Better package, which would allow otherwise law-abiding immigrants without legal status who have been in the United States continuously since Jan. 1, 2011, to apply for a green card and eventual citizenship.

“Enough is enough! Immigrant Americans have proven how essential we are to the nation during this global pandemic, and now it’s time for our Democratic leadership to live up to their promises and prove that we are more than pawns to be bargained with by politicians,” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s executive director, told Caribbean Life.

“We cannot defer the promise of real lasting immigration reform, again,” he added. “The cost of inaction is too high for families who have already experienced the virulent attacks of four years of the most anti-immigrant President in recent history.”

Awawdeh said Schumer has the power “to build a better vision of our country and secure a true recovery.

“It’s time he and his caucus listened to the majority of the American people and deliver on their promise of a roadmap to citizenship,” he urged.

Awawdeh said NYIC’s mission is to unite immigrants, members, and allies “so all New Yorkers can thrive.”

“We represent the collective interests of New York’s diverse immigrant communities and organizations and devise solutions to advance them; advocate for laws, policies, and programs that lead to justice and opportunity for all immigrant groups; and build the power of immigrants and the organizations that serve them to ensure their sustainability, to improve people’s lives, and to strengthen our state,” he added.

For more on this story go to: CARIBBEAN LIFE