U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, visited the San Diego border region Wednesday to learn how the federal government can support the humanitarian efforts of local advocates.
During a meeting with San Diego Rapid Response Network members, advocates asked Padilla to help them restore the asylum system, stop the militarization of the border, expand access to Friendship Park and adopt a more welcoming approach to new migrants.
“Our communities need legislative fixes to address problems brought by a broken immigration system,” said Monika Langarcia, attorney for the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.
Padilla is chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Safety. He agreed that legislatures need to come up with a solution.
“The immigration laws in the United States are outdated, to put it mildly,” he said.
Passing comprehensive immigration reform was one of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promises. Advocates expected reforms after Democrats won control of the White House, Senate and Congress.
But nearly two years later, reform has not come and some of former President Donald Trump’s most controversial anti-immigration asylum policies are still in place.
Padilla said he shares in the public’s frustration over the lack of movement on immigration. He blamed it on partisan obstructionism.
“I actually share in the frustration,” he said. “We all agree that immigration reform is long overdue. The efforts in Congress, let’s be clear, have been stifled by Republicans who are happy to grandstand at the border but offer no solution themselves.”
Padilla has called to end the filibuster as a way to pass immigration reform. He has also pushed President Biden to use his executive power to expand protections to undocumented immigrants.
Advocates who work at the border daily said there are real-life consequences to political squabbles in Washington D.C.
“The border is much more than a headline, it’s people’s lives that are impacted every single day on both sides of the border,” said Kate Clark, director of immigrant services at Jewish Family Services.
Advocates asked Padilla to be more vocal in pushing back on the narrative that an invasion is happening at the border and advocate for more access to Friendship Park when he returns to Washington D.C.
“Access should be unobstructed, unrestricted and without the heavy-handed conditions imposed by Border Patrol,” said Pedro Rios of American Friends Service Committee.
Guerline Jozef, founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said the Biden administration needs to stop placing so many migrants in immigration detention centers — particularly non-violent asylum seekers fleeing from hardships back home.
“As people come in, instead of welcoming them with welcoming with dignity, we throw them into immigration prison,” she said.
Jozef's organization has had to pay bonds of $50,000 and $70,000 to release migrants from those detention centers, she added.
Clark, Jozef and many of the advocates said they felt optimistic after Padilla’s visit.
“It gives me hope that we have a champion like Senator Padilla fighting on our behalf in Washington D.C. to carry the stories that he heard today, and take the advocacy issues that are top of mind for us back with him to D.C.,” Clark said.
