Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick has joined with a fellow member of Congress to write a letter to President Joe Biden.
Fitzpatrick, a Republican, and Congressman Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York, have asked for Biden to implement executive actions aimed at managing border control and expanding work permit access for mixed-status families.
The lawmakers asked the president to “help bring order to the border and extend legal work permits to populations of the long-term undocumented who have shown significant roots in our nation and a history of economic contributions.”
The letter urged the president to issue an executive order to restrict “abuse of the asylum process by cartels” and raise the “credible fear standard to a higher threshold.” They also urged the president to offer “legal work permits to the 1.1 million immigrant spouses married to U.S. citizens.”
Fitzpatrick and Suozzi said the actions will “support meaningful steps” toward a solution for immigration.
Fitzpatrick and Suozzi were supported by members of the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC) and American Families United (AFU).
The call for executive orders comes in the wake of a bipartisan border security bill which passed the U.S. Senate earlier this year but stalled in the House after opposition from former President Donald Trump, who criticized Biden’s handling of immigration and urged Republicans to reject the bill.
The White House and Biden have called on the House to pass the legislation.
In February, Fitzpatrick co-sponsored The Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which advocated for stricter border control measures, including a one-year suspension of entry for certain inadmissible aliens and immediate detention and expulsion policies. The bill also included foreign aid to Ukraine and other nations. It was not moved forward by GOP leadership.
The proposal faced criticism from Human Rights First, which labeled it “deeply flawed.”
