Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, held a hearing titled “Removing Barriers to Legal Migration to Strengthen our Communities and Economy.” During the hearing he questioned witnesses on how our immigration system is failing to meet the needs of the 21^st century and what can be done to fill those gaps.

The hearing featured testimony from Ms. Athulya Rajakumar, Graduate of the University of Texas at Austin; Professor Stephen Legomsky, the John S. Lehman Professor at the Washington University School of Law; and Mr. Lynden D. Melmed, Partner at Berry Appleman & Leiden, LLP.

“For more than two hundred years, people have come to the United States from around the world to seek refuge, pursue opportunity, and live the American dream,” said Senator Padilla. “I held this hearing today because we cannot allow the inaction of Congress to continue to exacerbate the challenges many immigrants face in seeking lawful permanent resident status. The United States was founded as a nation of immigrants, and it’s time to honor that spirit once again.”

“We appreciate Senator Padilla and the Subcommittee for holding this important hearing to highlight barriers in our legal immigration system,” said Dip Patel, President of Improve The Dream. “Athulya’s moving testimony shows the urgent need to update our broken system, including the need to permanently end the problem of aging out for children who are raised and educated in the United States. For thousands of young people growing up with uncertainty, there is constant anxiety regarding one’s future in what we consider our home. Delay in taking action will not only lead to tearing more families apart, but also continue the immense emotional turmoil faced by thousands of families who contribute to our country and call America home. We urge Congress to consider this and act fast to pass common-sense immigration reform.”

The subcommittee heard witnesses testify about how our outdated immigration laws are harming our communities and economy and a personal testimony about how years of immigration limbo contributed to a family member’s tragic death.

Padilla questioned Ms. Rajakumar about her experience as a Documented Dreamer and how a pathway to citizenship and the enactment of the America’s Children Act would impact her life. Ms. Rajakumar pointed to the fact that it would mean that she wouldn’t have to be separated from her family and the country she’s called her home for the last twenty years. Padilla continued to question witnesses about how reforms to the American visa system would benefit our country and help clear the growing immigration backlogs.

In a second round of questioning, Padilla questioned Ms. Rajakumar how her life would be different if she would have been granted legal permanent residence. He also questioned witnesses on the employment-based visa cap limits and how exempting spouses and children from that cap would improve our immigration system.

Before closing the hearing, Padilla asked Professor Legomsky to elaborate on the need to eliminate the 3-year, 10-year and permanent bars to migration. Professor Legomsky responded by arguing that these bars put people in procedural catch-22s whereby the bars keep families apart and, counterintuitively, incentivized unlawful presence in the U.S.

During the hearing, Padilla secured a verbal commitment from Ranking Member John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to work on legislation to rectify the circumstances Documented Dreamers, like Ms. Rajakumar, have had to face in the immigration process.

Senator Padilla is a strong advocate for immigration reform. He introduced the America’s Children Act with Senator Rand Paul to create green card opportunities for children who grew up in the United States, but are now aging out of their parents’ long-term, non-immigrant visas. He is also an original cosponsor of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, legislation to overhaul the American immigration system, restore fairness and humanity to the system, strengthen families, boost our economy, and open a pathway to citizenship for millions. Padilla led a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requesting that the agency expand the DACA threshold criteria to include Documented Dreamers.

WATCH: View Video of Padilla’s Opening Remarks / Download Video of Padilla’s Opening Remarks

WATCH: View Video of Padilla’s Questioning Round 1 / Download Video of Padilla’s Questioning Round 1

WATCH: View Video of Padilla’s Questioning Round 2 / Download Video of Padilla’s Questioning Round 2

WATCH: View Video of Padilla’s Final Question and Closing Remarks / Download Video of Padilla’s Final Question and Closing Remarks

Key Opening Remarks Excerpts:

• We are here today to examine the challenges many immigrants face in seeking lawful permanent resident status. For generations, the dreams and hard work of immigrants have fueled our economy, sparked ground-breaking scientific discoveries, enhanced our national security, and strengthened our communities.

• But the immigration system that Congress designed to achieve those critical goals has failed to keep up with our needs in the twenty-first century.

• Visa caps that keep employers from expanding their businesses and hold back the U.S. economy. And arbitrary cutoffs for legal status that force children of visa holders to leave the only country they’ve ever known when they age out of their parents’ visas.

• Congress hasn’t passed a significant update to immigration policy in more than three decades. Think about that – we’re still relying on an immigration framework that was last overhauled before the launch of the World Wide Web. And this has had devastating consequences for hard-working families and our economy.

• Currently, there is a backlog of 1.4 million people who are eligible for employment-based visas.

• The annual cap on family-based visas is far lower than global demand, with about 7.7 million people stuck in the backlog. That means millions of parents and children, sisters and brothers, and married couples face years or even decades of separation.

• It’s past time to update our immigration laws to reflect the current needs of our nation.

The full hearing, list of witnesses, and witness testimonies can be found here. 

Full transcript of Padilla’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery can be found below:

This hearing will come to order. 

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for this hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety.

I want to start by thanking my Ranking Member, Senator Cornyn, and his staff for once again working so collaboratively with me and my team in putting this hearing together. 

That’s not always a given around here, and so I want you to know how much I appreciate our partnership, both on this subcommittee as well as in our other work together.

Now, we are here today to examine the challenges many immigrants face in seeking lawful permanent resident status.

For more than two hundred years, people have come to the United States from around the world to seek refuge, pursue opportunity, and live the American dream.

For generations, the dreams and hard work of immigrants have fueled our economy, sparked ground-breaking scientific discoveries, enhanced our national security, and strengthened our communities.

That’s why Congress has routinely created pathways for people from around the world to live and work in this country – and to bring their families along with them.

But the immigration system that Congress designed to achieve those critical goals has failed to keep up with our needs in the twenty-first century.

In this hearing, we will hear testimony on barriers to legal migration that routinely separate families across international borders for years.

Visa caps that keep employers from expanding their businesses and hold back the U.S. economy.

And arbitrary cutoffs for legal status that force children of visa holders to leave the only country they’ve ever known when they age out of their parents’ visas.

The gap between our country’s needs and the realities of our broken immigration system should come as no surprise.

After all, Congress hasn’t passed a significant update to immigration policy in more than three decades.

Think about that – we’re still relying on an immigration framework that was last overhauled before the launch of the World Wide Web.

And this has had devastating consequences for hard-working families and our economy.

Currently, there is a backlog of 1.4 million people who are eligible for employment-based visas.

Employment-based visa allow participating immigrants to bring extraordinary skills to our workforce, start new businesses, create new jobs in rural areas, and help address worker shortages in industries like health care.

But only 140,000 of these individuals can obtain visas every year. And because the spouses and children who accompany them count against that total, fewer than 70,000 visas actually go to eligible workers.

Hundreds of thousands of others are left in limbo — restricted by a temporary visa, or turned away from their dreams and kept from realizing their potential.

Our immigration laws also cause years of delay for millions of family members who are otherwise eligible to join their relatives in the United States.

The annual cap on family-based visas is far lower than global demand, with about 7.7 million people stuck in the backlog.

That means millions of parents and children, sisters and brothers, and married couples face years or even decades of separation.

Wait times are further exacerbated by strict limits on how many visas can go to an individual country.

And the term “wait time,” for many, is a cruel misnomer.  For applicants from some countries, the “wait time” is literally longer than any human’s life expectancy.

It’s past time to update our immigration laws to reflect the current needs of our nation.

I thank my colleagues who are leading common-sense bills to address these unnecessary barriers to legal immigration.

For instance, Senator Durbin’s “RELIEF Act” would increase the availability of visas to reunite families.

Senator Menendez’s “U.S. Citizenship Act” would eliminate per-country caps, increase the number of green cards through the diversity visa program, and recapture millions of previously unused visas to reduce green card backlogs.

Representative Lofgren’s “LIKE Act” would create a pathway for immigrant entrepreneurs to strengthen our economy.

And I worked across the aisle with Senator Paul to introduce the “America’s Children Act,” which would create green card opportunities for children who grew up in the United States but are now aging out of their parents’ temporary visas.

The stakes of this work could not be higher. 

Professor Stephen Legomsky is joining us today to testify about how our outdated immigration laws are harming our communities and economy.

Mr. Melmed will focus on barriers to skills-based migration.

And Athulya Rajakumar, a documented dreamer and aspiring journalist, is here to share the story of her family’s struggle through years of immigration limbo, which contributed to her brother’s tragic death.

Athulya, my heart goes out to you and your family.

I am outraged by the broken system that you, your brother, and thousands of documented dreamers have had to face.

I held this hearing today because we cannot allow the inaction of Congress to continue to cause this suffering. 

The United States was founded as a nation of immigrants, and it’s time to honor that spirit once again.

I’m here to put in the work. 

I’m ready to have constructive, productive conversations with my Republican colleagues.

These issues need to be more than just bipartisan in spirit.

We must act.

We must fix this outdated system.

I know we can do it, if we work together.

And now, I recognize Ranking Member Cornyn for his opening remarks.

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