Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf: Cities must keep pushing for immigrant rights
Libby Schaaf
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Demonstrators supporting immigrant rights gather in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood for a march toward downtown in May 2007.Darryl Bush / The Chronicle 2007
Three years ago Oakland sounded an alarm when we learned of a secret operation by President Donald Trump to attempt mass deportations of immigrants from our community. I knew the impending ICE raid on our city would have undoubtedly torn parents away from children, husbands away from wives.
Instead of standing down, we chose to speak up.
It’s hard to look back and make sense of the despotic, tyrannical cloud we all lived under. Immediately after our warning in Oakland, the U.S. attorney general attempted to ban federal aid to Oakland and all sanctuary cities. The president of the United States called for my imprisonment a punishment I said I would accept and then moved to hold immigrant children in cages. A R
A bill introduced on Friday by California Sen. Alex Padilla called for a pathway to citizenship for essential undocumented workers.
5 million undocumented workers were on the frontlines during COVID-19, and the bill would grant them Permanent Legal Resident status.
A pathway to citizenship would also stimulate the economy through tax contributions and higher wages for Americans.
In order to aid essential workers during COVID-19, Democrats introduced a bill on Friday to provide undocumented immigrants who have worked on the frontlines during the pandemic an expedited pathway to citizenship.
Led by Sen. Alex Padilla of California, his first bill in Congress the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act targeted the 5 million workers without legal status who worked in healthcare, agriculture, public transit, and other frontline industries during the pandemic.
Democratic senator s first bill provides 5 million essential workers with a pathway to citizenship msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
New Senator Alex Padilla Introduces His First Bill, Citizenship for Essential Workers
The handpicked junior senator from California is likely to make immigration reform his signature cause, and comes out of the gate with a bill that would grant citizenship to immigrants working essential jobs.
Former California secretary of state Alex Padilla was the winner of the Gavin Newsom-Picks-a-Senator Sweepstakes, but let’s be honest. You would not recognize the guy if you passed him on the street. So, Senator Padilla faces a challenge making a name for himself, and his first bill shows his hand at how he intends to do this. The Chronicle has the news that Padilla has introduced his first Senate bill called the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act, which would do, well, exactly what the bill’s title says.