Washington, D.C. – Today, Senator Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the SECURE Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for TPS holders. This legislation would allow people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to apply for legal permanent residency, opening up a pathway to citizenship. Programs like TPS protect hundreds of thousands of people from countries like El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from deportation.
Sanaa Abrar, Advocacy Director of United We Dream, said:
“The SECURE Act is a good first step in providing a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, lifting the threat of deportation from their lives. Over the last four years programs like TPS – which protect mostly Black and brown immigrants – have been under attack. TPS recipients, many of whom have lived in the U.S. for decades, have been caught in the crossfire of a Republican-led white nationalist anti-immigrant agenda.
Similar to the introduction of the Dream Act last week, we praise the SECURE Act for not being tied to harmful enforcement measures that further criminalize immigrant communities by funding the deadly enforcement of ICE and CBP. The swift passage of the SECURE Act is a step towards protecting hundreds of thousands of people from deportation. President Biden and Congress have a mandate from voters, and a clear responsibility to pass legislation through whatever means necessary that provides a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S.”
