AFT Leaders Respond to Senate Parliamentarian Ruling on Immigration

WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick C. Ingram and Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus released the following statement on the Senate parliamentarian’s ruling that precludes the inclusion of a path to citizenship in the budget reconciliation bill:

“While the parliamentarian’s ruling is a setback for the 8 million Dreamers, TPS holders, farmworkers and essential workers waiting for their chance at a pathway to U.S. citizenship, our elected leaders must continue to pursue a progressive immigration agenda. America is built on the foundational principle that all are welcome here, and we must find a way to live up to that ideal.

“Because among those 8 million are educators, nurses and essential workers, university professors and students—many who have lived in this country for decades, and who help bring our classrooms and our communities to life, especially during the pandemic. Our frontline workers, neighbors, colleagues and friends must not live in fear over detention, deportation and family separation.

“The AFT will continue to fight to protect undocumented students, refugees, individuals with temporary protective status and their families from immigration policies that cast them into the shadows. As a nation built by immigrants, Senate Democrats must be on the right side of history and find an alternative to creating this pathway to citizenship.”

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