‘New Deal for New Americans’ will reform immigration policy and strengthen our nation

We have, sadly, gotten used to constant bad news about immigration policy. There’s the public charge rule aimed at denying benefits, to eligible immigrants to the Trump administration’s attack on DACA and the “Dreamers.” There’s the proposal to increase naturalization fees, which is clearly aimed at limiting the immigrant vote. Add the recent announcement on potential travel restrictions on seven more countries, and you have to wonder whether anything good can ever come out of Washington.

So it’s easy to miss it when a bit of forward-looking thinking actually pops up despite the political turmoil. It went largely unnoticed when, in October 2019, Grace Meng (D-NY), Jesús García (D-IL) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) announced their co-sponsorship of The New Deal for New Americans Act, with the goal of building a more inclusive society for all.

This bill, still in its introductory stages, would end the federal government’s current approach of wreaking havoc and creating insecurity in immigrant communities and, instead, reorient the nation to a forward-looking direction supportive of all its constituents – and the society as a whole.

The bill would commit federal resources to state and local governments in support of immigrants and refugees, coordinating efforts through a new National Office of New Americans. The bill would also mandate U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to lower naturalization fees in order to encourage citizenship and require that agency to clear up a backlog that has resulted in some applicants waiting up to two years to naturalize.

The bill would also raise refugee admissions, expand legal services and access to justice for immigrants, and promote English learning. It would also support workforce development programs that would allow immigrants to acquire both basic and job-specific skills so they can better meet the needs of employers – and secure more financial stability for themselves and their families.

It would be a welcome – and not unprecedented shift. After all, our own state, California, made a pivot from the anti-immigrant hysteria of the early 1990s to a more welcoming and more productive approach over the last few decades.

California is paving the way for a state inclusive of its immigrant community. It allows undocumented Californians to obtain their driver’s licenses. It lets all immigrants, regardless of status, to obtain professional licenses. It sharply restricts local law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE proposes to expand funding to provide health insurance to undocumented seniors.

The result: We have shifted past the unproductive fights of the past and focused more strongly on how to grow our economy rather than scapegoat other Californians. The Golden State has its challenges, particularly a housing crisis that affects immigrant and native-born alike, but we can now boast of having the fifth largest economy in the world. And the state’s immigrants – teachers and lawyers, doctors and nurses, farmworkers and factory workers, small and large business owners – are responsible for generating nearly a third of the annual GDP that got us to that lofty position.

We understand that those not in California sometimes think of us as a sort of Left Coast oddball – super diverse, highly liberal and not at all typical of the rest of America. But the truth is that our demographic change between 1980 and 2000 is what the U.S. is going through between 2000 and 2050. And our fights about immigration in the 1990s – in the context of sharp deindustrialization – presaged what is now gripping the nation.

In short, the reality is that California is America Fast Forward – and the nation would be wise to both see what is working here and accelerate the curve to not repeat our earlier anti-immigrant mistakes.

The provisions in the New Deal for New Americans Act point the nation in the right direction. Previous research shows that new citizens experience an increase in income, and the act makes naturalization easier and quicker. Research shows that English language skills result in better educational and employment outcomes, and the act promotes English acquisition. We also know that refugees exhibit higher employment and entrepreneurship rates – and the act seeks to restore our nation’s reputation as a refuge for the oppressed and a beneficiary of their commitment to their new home.

Finally, the act most fundamentally recognizes that immigrant integration is not a special issue. After all, immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for over one-quarter of our nation’s population. How they do affects the welfare of the nation as a whole.

While Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda continues to unfold, it is important to point to what another approach could be and the benefits it could bring. The New Deal for New Americans Act can help us push back and reorient the nation in a direction that can once again foster unity and prosperity to all who are here and all who will come.

This story was originally published February 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.