Five Questions Democrats Should Ask Secretary Mayorkas at the Judiciary Committee Hearing Today

Washington DC — Today as immigrants nationwide commemorate Workers’ Memorial Day by honoring those co-workers and loved ones that have died due to COVID 19, work-related injuries, neglect, and abuse, Congress is holding a hearing to evaluate the Executive Branch’s exercise of discretion in enforcing existing laws, which everyone in America agrees are outdated, unjust, and ineffective. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) urges members of the House Judiciary Committee to ask the following questions of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas:

1. Do you believe surviving undocumented family members of immigrants who lost their lives to COVID 19 while doing front-line work to keep the country running the pandemic deserve to reside in the country free from fear of deportation and free to work lawfully? Yes or no?
2. Do you believe DHS should affirmatively remove the threat of deportation for undocumented immigrants workers who step forward to report dangerous, unsafe, and illegal working conditions? Yes or no?
3. Do you believe the 287(g) program is effective? Yes or no? If no (and the answer is no), why hasn’t the program been ended by the Biden Administration yet?
4. Do you believe people from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador deserve Temporary Protected Status (TPS), yes? Why hasn’t TPS yet been restored for those people who were targeted by Trump’s unconstitutional decision to de-document people from what he called “shithole countries”?
5. Particularly for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing for their lives, do you believe DHS’s policy of so-called “prevention through deterrence” is immoral, yes or no?

Added Pablo Alvarado, NDLON Co-Director: “As immigrant scapegoating by Republican lawmakers in congress and demagogue entertainers on FOX NEWS reach unprecedented levels of intensity, it is more important than ever for Democrats to do exactly the opposite of what they are currently doing— which is staying silent. As anti-immigrant racism and unjust laws in this country are quite literally killing immigrants here and abroad and de-legitimizing faith in American democracy, President Biden seems almost allergic to the topic. His lack of leadership is creating a vacuum that has been filled by rancid demagoguery. Congress needs to hold President Biden accountable for running away from what is now a national crisis, threatening not just immigrant workers and their families, but the entire country.”

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