Senators keep roadmap to citizenship unscathed and strengthen protections for vulnerable immigrants and workers

WASHINGTON, DC - After day four of the Senate Judiciary Committee's markup of the bipartisan immigration bill, Eliseo Medina, Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), issued the following statement:

Another day of markup proves that the bipartisanship spirit is still alive and well and moving forward a strong bill through the Committee. Although there is still much crucial debate left over the heart of the bill, the Senators kept the roadmap to citizenship unscathed, and passed amendments that also aim to protect vulnerable populations by ensuring civil rights and due process protections.

"From enhancing the safeguards of unaccompanied immigrant children to making sure future workers have rights against recruitment violations, the Committee strengthened the integrity of this bill with commonsense amendments that live up to America's belief in justice. We must continue in this trajectory and continue to push for legislation that creates a humane immigration system, upholding the rights of all immigrants and a pathway to citizenship without unreasonable barriers.

"This is the progress and the bipartisanship that the growing consensus of Americans welcomes as we continue to lift our voices in unity for commonsense immigration reform."

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