LCV and Chispa Statements On Biden-Harris Action to Keep Families Together

For Immediate Release

June 18, 2024

Contact: Mika Hyer, mhyer@lcv.org, 940-783-2230

En Español: Elena Gaona, egaona@lcv.org, 202-907-9717

Washington, D.C.— In response to today’s announcement from the Biden-Harris administration to help keep hundreds of thousands of families together, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and Chispa issued the following statements:

“We can’t have environmental justice without a healthy democracy and an immigration system that respects the dignity and humanity of the people and communities most impacted by the climate crisis in our country,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Community and Civic Engagement Sandra Pérez González. “The Biden-Harris administration is taking bold action to keep families together and ensure hundreds of thousands of children and spouses of citizens can access their legal pathway to residency. Communities across the country are seeing the severe impacts of the climate crisis and extreme weather firsthand, and as temperatures continue to rise, our immigrant communities are often on the front lines of environmental injustice, are excluded from opportunities like resiliency investments, and are denied security. This is a step towards realizing an immigration system that centers people and their lived experience, and LCV will continue to support more just and equitable immigration policy for future generations.”

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“Chispa welcomes today’s executive actions to keep families together,” said Chispa Senior Director Estefany Carrasco-González. “Through my personal experience and our work on the ground in the communities affected most by environmental injustice, we know that families need stability just as much as they need clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. Immigrant families who pay taxes and contribute to their communities often bear the brunt of climate inequality, and children of color especially need all the strong family support that is possible to thrive. Expanding pathways for immigrants and keeping families together, including mixed-status families, will make our communities’ environmental and local work, and our nation, stronger.”

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