{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases/news-casar-colleagues-introduce-migration-stability-resolution", "NEWS: Casar & Colleagues Introduce Migration Stability Resolution", "2024-09-26", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Greg Casar", "C001131", "casar.house.gov", "casar", "https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Greg Casar (TX-35), co-founder of the Global Migration Caucus, and U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jes\u00fas G. \"Chuy\" Garc\u00eda (IL-04), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), and Juan Vargas (CA-52) introduced a new resolution calling for comprehensive legislation to address the root causes of forced migration and displacement, while affirming the need for a true roadmap to citizenship for immigrants in the United States.\n\n\u201cDemocrats can build an orderly, humane, and stable immigration system. We should create more legal pathways for migration and citizenship, while also changing the failed U.S. policies that cause displacement abroad and force people to flee their home countries,\u201d said Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas), co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on Global Migration. \u201cLet\u2019s tackle the climate crisis. Let\u2019s remove broad-based sanctions that increase poverty. Let\u2019s prioritize policies to support stability abroad while creating a welcoming and predictable immigration process at home.\u201d\n\n\u201cToo many people around the world face violence, poverty, and persecution and see the United States as a beacon of hope,\u201d said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). \u201cWe must make the immigration system more humane, more orderly, and more effective to welcome immigrants who come to this country rather than turn them away and to recognize not only the contributions they make to this country, but also the moral duty we have to protect people who come here fleeing horrible conditions. We can and must do better for immigrants.\u201d\n\n\u201cOver the past decades, millions of people have been forced to migrate from their homes\u2014and more people are displaced now than ever before. This is the result of converging crises, including climate change, political instability, and violence, some of which are impacted by U.S. policy,\u201d said Rep. Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda (D-Ill.). \u201cYet, our immigration and asylum policies have become more restrictive and punitive, disregarding the role our government has played in creating this crisis. It\u2019s time we acknowledge the ways in which U.S. policy has contributed to forced migration and displacement, and advance reforms that address the root causes of migration.\u201d\n\n\u201cRepublicans\u2019 dangerous rhetoric about immigration endangers our immigrant communities and completely ignores the root causes of migration,\u201d said Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on Global Migration. \u201cMigration is not just a border issue but a foreign policy issue. With migration on the rise worldwide and conflict, food insecurity, climate change, and political violence driving immigration to the U.S., it\u2019s imperative that we reshape our immigration policy to address these global crises. This resolution calls upon Congress to do just that.\u201d\n\n\u201cClimate instability, democratic backsliding, economic exclusion, sanctions, and human rights violations are just some of the conditions driving unprecedented levels of global displacement and migration,\u201d said Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.), co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on Global Migration. \u201cStricter border enforcement, harsh asylum laws, and the vilification of immigrants have consistently failed us and our neighbors. Instead, we need to address how our own policies contribute to the crises and adopt a coordinated regional and global strategy to tackle the root causes of displacement.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s past time for comprehensive immigration reform. And a critical piece to this is addressing the factors that force families to flee their home countries in the first place,\u201d said Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.). \u201cFrom combating climate change to humanitarian assistance, we need to implement productive policies that address the root causes of forced migration and displacement, while also working to restore faith in our legal immigration system and creating pathways to citizenship.\u201d\n\nSpecifically, this resolution calls for comprehensive legislation that:\n\naddresses U.S. policies contributing to forced migration and displacement;\n\nensures a humane and sustainable immigration system that appropriately addresses the root causes driving migration; and\n\naffirms the need for a true roadmap to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S.\n\nOver the last few weeks, MAGA Republicans have fabricated xenophobic and racist stories about Haitian immigrant families, adding to a long track record of perpetuating false narratives, conspiracy theories, and racist tropes. This MAGA rhetoric has incited physical violence against many migrant families. Now more than ever, it is important to emphasize the value migrants bring to our communities and to call for policies that will make our immigration system more stable and humane.\n\nThe resolution is co-led by U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (TX-35), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jes\u00fas G. \"Chuy\" Garc\u00eda (IL-04), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), and Juan Vargas (CA-52), and co-sponsored by Nanette Barrag\u00e1n (CA-44), Andr\u00e9 Carson (IN-07), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Ra\u00fal Grijalva (AZ-07), Jonathan L. Jackson (IL-01), Henry C. \u201cHank\u201d Johnson (GA-04), Summer Lee (PA-12), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Grace Napolitano (CA-31), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Nydia M. Velazquez (NY-07).\n\nIt is endorsed by ActionAid USA, Ayudemos por una vida mas digna, Border Vigil of Eagle Pass, CASA, Center for Economic Policy and Research, Center for International Policy, Climate Refugees, Eagle Pass Border Coalition, Global Exchange, Justice is Global, Mira Feminisms and Democracies, Movimiento de los pueblos por la paz y la justicia y M\u00e9xico negro ac, National Immigrant Justice Center, National Immigration Project, OXFAM America, Public Citizen, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas \u2013 Justice Team, Transnational Villages Network/Red de Pueblos, United We Dream, and Win Without War.\n\n\u201cThis resolution is the step forward Congress desperately needs to reframe the issue of immigration towards more productive and effective solutions that will ensure migrants' lives take precedence over politics,\u201d saidJuliana Macedo do Nascimento, Deputy Director of Federal Advocacy at United We Dream. \u201cThe vast majority of Americans want to see a humane, efficient and fair policies that honor everyone's freedoms to live safely in their homes without being forcibly displaced, whether here or abroad, and provides the opportunity to become citizens in the U.S. Congress has a clear roadmap in front of them with this resolution that proves that safety, humanity, fairness and justice in our foreign policy and immigration system are not contradictory values but instead deeply interconnected.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe need to dig in our heels and end the racism and xenophobia that's rampant in our immigration and asylum debates in the U.S.,\u201d said Eric Eikenberry, government relations director for Win Without War. \u201cThis new resolution lays the groundwork to do just that: welcome people who want to build their lives here, while ensuring that -- from arms sales to climate policy and beyond -- our government doesn\u2019t create the conditions that force them from their homes and communities.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor too long, the U.S. approach to migration has focused on barricading our borders rather than addressing the realities compelling people to leave their homes \u2014 including crises exacerbated by U.S. policies. We applaud Congressman Casar and his colleagues for taking this critical step to review and move toward better U.S. policies to address the conditions giving rise to increased migration and displacement,\u201d said Dylan Williams, Center for International Policy Vice President for Government Affairs.\n\n\u201cThere's been a lot of talk over the years about \u2018root causes\u2019 of migration, but this is the first legislation of its kind to home in on the elephant in the room: U.S. policy and its role in fueling the involuntary migration and displacement of millions of people in the region and the world,\u201d said Alex Main, Director of International Policy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. \u201cThis groundbreaking resolution helps us all better understand how vulnerable communities in the Global South have been devastated by U.S. broad-based sanctions, U.S.-backed trade agreements that put corporate greed over people, U.S. security assistance that props up repressive governments, and lax gun laws that provide criminals with easy access to U.S. weapons. Most importantly, this legislation proposes bold strategies to undo harmful policies and help truly mitigate \u2018root causes\u2019 including through far-reaching reforms to US sanctions policy and foreign assistance, the removal of harmful ISDS provisions from US-backed trade agreements, and the provision of robust support to developing countries fighting inequality and climate change, including through new issuances of debt-free IMF Special Drawing Rights. This resolution is long overdue, and we're proud and delighted to be supporting it today.\u201d\n\n\u201cRather than \u2018blaming the victims\u2019\u2014immigrants, it is important to acknowledge how failed U.S. foreign (or economic and military) policies have contributed to the spiraling poverty and violence from which people have been fleeing for their lives,\u201d Jean Stokan, Justice Coordinator for Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. \u201cForced migration is often the result of U.S. foreign policies that prioritize the interests of foreign investors over those of impoverished populations. Thus, this resolution importantly names U.S. responsibility to address those root causes and the need for justice-based pathways to citizenship.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo design a just and humane policy response to immigration, we have to ask the question - why are people moving? As an international development organization, ActionAid USA strongly supports this resolution for acknowledging the root causes of migration, including and especially those for which the United States is directly responsible,\u201d said Brandon Wu, Director of Policy and Campaigns for ActionAid USA. \u201cA human rights-based approach to immigration policy should start with fixing harmful foreign policies, ongoing climate inaction, and unjust international economic systems that all contribute to force people to leave their homes.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nWashington Post: How four U.S. presidents unleashed economic warfare across the globe\n\nThe Guardian: Guns and weapons trafficked from U.S. fueling Haiti gang violence\n\nOxfam: Refuge from Debt: How the global debt crisis fuels forced migration to New York\n\nInternational Refugee Assistance Project: Enduring Change - A Data Review of Firsthand Accounts of Climate Mobility Impacts\n\nThe resolution text can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://casar.house.gov/media/press-releases/news-casar-colleagues-introduce-migration-stability-resolution"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8299089968204498, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}