Letter to New York State Congressional Delegation Regarding H.R.6 – American Dream and Promise Act of 2019

New York State Congressional Delegation

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Members of the New York State Congressional Delegation:

On Wednesday, May 22nd, the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary passed two groundbreaking bills to protect Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients. Together, these bills will establish a roadmap to U.S. citizenship for immigrant youth and beneficiaries of TPS and DED. We believe it is imperative that Congress pass this legislation quickly in order to secure permanent protections for nearly 2.5 million immigrants who have lived and worked in this country for many years and who deserve to stay here. With these bills moving to a vote before the full House of Representatives, we write today to urge you to support this legislation.

This legislation will positively impact hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers as well as our state and local economies. According to the Center for American Progress there are 26,000 TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti alone in New York State. Together, these residents have 21,800 U.S.-born children, and contribute $1.5 billion annually to the state GDP. Further, there were 32,000 DACA recipients in New York State as of August 2018, and many estimate that there are tens of thousands of more who are eligible for the program.

We’ve long supported immigrants and immigrant workers who are critical to the industry we represent and the communities in which we live. Many TPS recipients work for our member companies as part of their building maintenance and grounds cleaning crews. In fact, the building maintenance service sector heavily relies upon the immigrant workforce. They are a stable, reliable, and lawful workforce in this sector and are key to our members’ ability to provide the services their tenants expect in major office buildings, institutions, and public facilities. If these individuals do lose their legal status and their ability to work the ripples will be felt at workplaces, in families, and in communities at large.

Dreamers and beneficiaries of TPS and DED are living in destabilizing limbo with their legal protections currently the subject of litigation in courts across the country. No matter how these cases are resolved, however, only legislation can provide permanent legal protection.

For these reasons we ask for your leadership by voting in support of H.R. 6.  Moreover, bipartisan support will strengthen the likelihood of H.R. 6 successfully passing into law. We hope that we can depend upon you for such support.

Thank you.