California's new U.S. Senator Alex Padilla announced his first bill as a Washington lawmaker, and it's about providing a pathway for citizenship to undocumented essential workers.
Doris Landaverde cleans dorm rooms at Harvard University and, likely as a result of that work, contracted COVID-19 last year. She's from El Salvador.
“I hope the government realizes we are essential workers, people who keep our communities safe,” she said.
Padilla introduced a bill Friday that would protect undocumented essential workers from deportation, and provide a pathway to citizenship.
“These front-line workers have earned a chance to become citizens of the United States, the very country that they make better each day with their contributions under the most extreme circumstances,” he said.
The Citizenship for Essential Workers Act is likely to be opposed by many Republicans in the Senate, but it is supported by progressives like Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is a co-sponsor of the bill.
“It is time for America to do what is right,” Warren said.
It's estimated some 5 million undocumented immigrants are currently working as essential workers.
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