UPDATE: Good news: the Senate JUST passed a historic immigration bill by a 68-32 vote! That means we’re one step closer to giving 11 million Americans a path to citizenship.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where it has a tough road. That’s why we need YOUR support.
Keep signing and sharing the petition! We’re waiting for a critical moment, and then we’ll deliver your names and powerful messages to the House.
Together, we can help millions of people fulfill their American dream.
ORIGINAL PETITION:
Erika Andiola speaks into the camera, sobbing.
“The reason I’m talking to you is because my mother and my brother were just taken,” she says, only moments after Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided her home, handcuffed her family members, and seized them for deportation.
Through her tears, the 25-year-old from Mesa, AZ makes an emotional plea.
“We need to do something. We need to stop separating families.” Erika sniffles and chokes. She musters the strength to continue. “This is not just happening to me, this is happening to families everywhere...It could happen to any of us, anytime.”
Put yourself in Erika’s shoes. At 11 years old, you, your mother, brother, and sister flee Mexico to escape domestic violence. You arrive in Arizona and become a DREAMer, (named after the DREAM Act), which refers to undocumented immigrants who came to the US as minors. You start a new life that soon feels very normal. In high school, you’re an honors student with lots of friends.
You’re just like every American teenager, except for one difference: you’re undocumented. That means you can’t get a driver’s license. You earn college scholarships but aren’t eligible to receive them. Without a social security number, finding a job is a nightmare. And then, one fateful night, your mother and brother are seized and taken away with no explanation.
How do you feel?
Through a grassroots campaign, Erika was able to delay her mother and brother’s deportation, but many aren’t so lucky. About 410,000 undocumented immigrants were deported last year, and millions more live with that fear.
Erika’s story of hardship and hope is a common one for so many American families. Over 11 million Americans have come here illegally, fleeing persecution, poverty, or danger, seeking safety and opportunity for their children. They, just like generations of immigrants from around the globe, are searching for their American dream. But those dreams have been dashed, because these immigrants have no path to citizenship. Until now.
Introducing Senate bill number s744, the Border Security and Economic Opportunity Bill. It’s proposed by the Gang of Eight, a group of four Republicans and four Democrats in the Senate. The main tenets of the bill are:
- Path to citizenship: a challenging but fair process for undocumented immigrants to become citizens. No longer will young people like Erika live in fear of their parents and siblings being deported.
- Citizenship for DREAMers: students and young people like Erika are eligible for the educational and economic opportunities they’ve so long been denied.
- Family reunification: more visas for foreign spouses, children, and parents of US citizens and permanent legal residents to keep families together.
- Stricter border security.
Along with 1.4 million Dreamers, Erika deserves citizenship. And she deserves to know that her mother and brother - along with 11 million others - won’t be deported. Americans like Erika should have citizenship. Families should not be separated. If you agree, sign your name and tell the Senate to pass bill s744. We will deliver the petition to Washington DC.
The Senate will debate the bill s744 starting June 10. The goal is to pass the bill by July 4, so we need your signatures NOW. Sign and share!
