Dear Member of  Congress:
 
As you spend this August recess in your home districts, we urge you to listen closely to the message that has been echoing across the country: the time for workable and humane immigration reform is now. Any serious proposal for overhauling our broken immigration system must include a realistic path to citizenship for our nation’s 11 million aspiring citizens.  It also must treat all immigrants with dignity by ensuring they have not only the same responsibilities as other Americans, but also the same opportunities to be healthy and productive and to fully contribute to their communities.  In particular, immigrants on the road to citizenship should have the opportunity to pay their fair share for affordable health care, attain economic stability and have access to nutrition assistance.  

We appreciate the tremendous efforts of the Senate in passing a bipartisan bill with a comprehensive framework.  At the same time, we remain concerned by the bill’s restrictions to health care and nutrition assistance for all immigrants on the road to citizenship – including children and pregnant women – for up to 10-13 years or longer.  During these years, immigrants on a legal path to citizenship will have to pay the same taxes as other working Americans but will be shut out of programs their taxes fund – such as Medicaid, CHIP, and SNAP – in times of need.

Immigrants perform jobs that are essential to making our nation run, such as harvesting our food, caring for our children and elderly parents, and building our communities. These are working families with children – 82 percent of whom are U.S. citizens.  We ask that you ensure that immigrants have access to programs that are necessary for them to achieve economic self-sufficiency and fully contribute to our nation.  This includes protecting the integrity of our tax code and Social Security system by placing the same requirements and allowing the same opportunities for all taxpaying wage-earners – including immigrants on the path to citizenship.  

Please fight to ensure that the children of immigrants and their families have the opportunity to pay their fair share for health care coverage, have access to nutrition assistance when they need it, and that our nation’s taxpayers can all fully participate in our tax programs and Social Security system.   Immigration reform that includes these opportunities is an investment worth making.  Allowing immigrants to achieve their full economic and social potential and to fully integrate into their communities will make our nation even stronger.  

Sincerely,