First 100 Days Of The Biden Administration: Our Community Is Still Waiting For Biden To Show Up For Them
Phoenix, AZ — This pandemic has disproportionately impacted our Black and Brown families. Our communities have faced higher unemployment rates, business closures, hospitalizations, and deaths. Mixed status families have been left to fend for themselves, many losing their jobs, getting sick without access to healthcare, and despite paying taxes not receiving a single stimulus dollar. This crisis has exacerbated the rampant inequalities in the economy and healthcare that already existed before the pandemic.
Despite these hardships in 2020 our community came together, organized, and mobilized around now President Joe Biden, with the highest expectations that President Biden would fight for the needs of our community when elected. Not being Trump is not enough to address the needs of so many families experiencing the worst this pandemic has to offer. Typically in most administrations, the first 100 days are the most productive, it’s an opportunity to show to the public you mean business. We are encouraged by some of the progress made, like Biden’s stimulus bill, but with the 2022 midterm elections looming if being bold was the goal, Democrats in Washington really missed the opportunity to do just that. Work on so many issues remains to be done by this Administration and Congress.
Immigration Reform
Many of Trump’s racist-hate-filled immigration policies are still in place. Children are still being locked in cages, mass deportations are still happening, there is a massive backlog of cases, and entire families are languishing behind bars. Even Trump’s title 42 policy which is used to expel people back to the countries they have fled is still in place and Black migrants are particularly targeted by this policy. Our expectation is that President Biden will lean into these issues and rid our immigration system of any remaining Trump policies, continue to expel Trump loyalists, reign in ICE and CBP, and work with Congress to pass immigration reform that offers a clear pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented families.
The Minimum Wage
The Biden administration and Democrats in Congress had a big opportunity to help millions of Americans struggling to survive, by passing a 15 dollar minimum wage. But instead, Biden and some Democrats in Congress retreated on this bill when the slightest form of resistance was encountered. Americans deserve a raise, especially our essential workers that have braved this pandemic to keep our stores open, and restaurants running. While we are encouraged by Biden’s support of a 15 dollar minimum wage, Democrats must do more to get this done in Congress.
The Filibuster & More
The filibuster is the single largest impediment to the passage of major legislation in Congress. From infrastructure to police reform, the Biden agenda is dead without a supermajority of votes in the Senate. Democrats like Sinema and Manchin, unfortunately, stand in the way of filibuster reform, and many of Biden’s legislative pieces. President Biden has stated he is interested in reform, but it is not enough to just alter procedure if the end goal is the same. If this country is going to provide a pathway to citizenship to millions of undocumented families, if we are going to achieve equitable justice under the law, hold police officers accountable, stop mass shootings, pay people a decent wage, protect voting rights, and give people better healthcare then the filibuster must be eradicated in the Senate.
LUCHA and Community Partners Have Been Busy
While the Biden Administration has taken encouraging steps, LUCHA and community partners have also been hard at work doing our part to push our leaders to do more for our communities. Defending the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants, actively fighting back against Jim Crow 2.0 legislation in Arizona, while also fighting for a Peoples First Economy, and demanding a more equitable vaccine rollout. Collectively we have provided nearly half a million dollars in financial support to undocumented families left out of the most recent stimulus bill.
In tonight’s address to Congress, we will be expecting Biden to double down on these issues, and provide our communities with a detailed plan on how we will get things done in Congress. We are in a historic moment to deliver for our communities major reforms to better their lives. The next 100 days will be decisive. We call on the President to go big, deliver solutions, and work with Democrats to achieve long-overdue breakthroughs. We did our part in the 2020 elections. We are mobilizing public support in 2021. But We need President Biden to assert that leadership to translate this momentum into historic change.
