Democratic senator's first bill provides 5 million essential workers with a pathway to citizenship

• 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.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, and Rep. Ted Lieu of California, called for a quick path to citizenship for essential undocumented workers to prompt equitable COVID-19 recovery.

"These heroes have risked their health and their lives to keep our communities safe and our economy moving and they have earned a pathway to citizenship," Padilla said in a statement. "My parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. My father worked as a short-order cook and my mom used to clean houses, jobs that would be considered essential today. Dignity, respect, and citizenship for essential workers is personal for me and in the best interest of our country."

According to a fact sheet, the legislation would:

• Make the adjustment to the status of Permanent Legal Resident open to non-citizen workers in the sectors of healthcare, food, janitorial, childcare, and more;
• Include undocumented workers who worked in essential industries but lost employment during COVID-19;
• And preserve family unity by repealing the three- and ten-year bars for reentry into the US.

Providing a pathway to citizenship would also stimulate economic recovery. According to the Center for American Progress, undocumented workers contributed up to $79.7 billion in federal taxes and $41 billion in state and local taxes annually.

And in a letter more than 60 economists signed on February 11, it said that providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would boost the economy and improve wages for all Americans.

"Offering them the chance to earn citizenship will help to ensure that the economic recovery reaches all corners of society, including those that have disproportionately been on the frontlines of the pandemic and yet left out of prior relief bills, and establishes a more stable and equitable foundation on which future economic success can be built," the letter said.

President Joe Biden sent an immigration bill to Congress on his first day that proposed a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, and in a CNN op-ed that Warren, Castro and Padilla wrote on February 2, they urged Congress to build on the legislation and provide swift pandemic relief.

"It is time for America to do right by the workers sacrificing so much for their communities and our country," the Democratic lawmakers wrote. "We must act now to protect the health, economic security, and rights of all essential workers, including those who are undocumented immigrants."