Representative Adriano Espaillat Leads Congressional Letter Urging Continued Immigration Engagement from Biden-Harris Administration

NEW YORK, NY – Last week, Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) led a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris urging the administration to address and facilitate swift action towards expediting work authorizations for migrants and to use their full executive power to provide relief for asylum seekers in the United States.

“We applaud cities welcoming asylum seekers with dignity and respect, and we acknowledge that the life sustaining and legal services they provide to ensure migrants can achieve self-sufficiency are unsustainable without additional federal relief. As such, we respectfully request that your administration take the following actions to alleviate financial strains on cities that are providing quality care for migrants,” Members said in the letter.

Rep. Espaillat and 14 other Members of Congress suggest initiatives to aid cities and states such as redesignating Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)—which successfully occurred a few days after the letter was sent—in addition to granting swift work authorization for humanitarian parole recipients, foregoing the current regulatory waiting period that asylum seekers must undergo before applying for work permits, and cultivating an interagency response to help migrants obtain permanent housing. Overall, these methods seek to offer protection and legal working status to asylum seekers, which will allow them to achieve much desired self-sufficiency and build their own American dream.

Rep. Espaillat was joined by the following signatories: Representatives Nydia M. Velazquez (NY-7), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (IL-4), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-3), Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Raul Ruiz M.D. (CA-25), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Darren Soto (FL-9), Robert J. Menendez (NJ-8), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34).

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Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx. First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his fourth term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities and serves as Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the committee during the 118th Congress. He is also a member of the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves in a leadership role as the Deputy Chair as well as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI). Rep. Espaillat is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.

Media inquiries: Candace Person at Candace.Person@mail.house.gov