Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has released an expansive plan to empower U.S. Latinos, including investing in the community’s economic mobility, expanding access to higher education and access to health care for all, reversing the current administration’s anti-immigrant policies and finally passing an immigration reform bill, and action to combat hate crimes and gun violence. The plan was released the day after the one-year anniversary of the El Paso mass shooting, the deadliest attack on U.S. Latinos in our modern history.
Biden’s plan notes “the uninsured rate among Latinos plummeted from 32% to 19% in the wake of Obamacare,” the largest decrease of any group. But “[n]ow, in the middle of a pandemic, Trump is trying to strip away all health care protections for the millions of Latinos who depend on the Affordable Care Act. If President Trump is successful in his efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, some estimates show that one in ten Latinos under age 65 will lose their health insurance. As President, Biden will build on Obamacare to expand Latinos’ access to quality, affordable care.”
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The plan in particular notes the devastating impact the novel coronavirus pandemic has had on U.S. Latinos, who “are bearing disproportionate harm from the pandemic.” Workers like farm workers, for example, have been deemed “essential workers” by the federal government amid the pandemic but have been shut out of important protections and guarantees, as well as emergency financial relief.
“Latinos are at an increased risk both of getting COVID-19 and of experiencing severe illness,” the plan said. “Latinos are more than four times more likely to experience hospitalization due to COVID-19 than non-Hispanic white persons. President Trump should work with Congress to immediately enact Senator Kamala Harris’ bill to create a task force to address the racial disparities that have been laid bare by this pandemic.”
The plan also pledges to send an immigration reform bill to Congress on day one of Biden’s presidency. “Trump has waged an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants,” the plan said. “It’s wrong, and it stops when Biden is elected President.”
“Biden knows that it’s past time to overhaul our broken immigration system. As Vice President, he backed reforms that would have established a path to citizenship and when Congress failed to pass them, the Obama-Biden Administration created and then expanded the DACA program to give Dreamers a chance to pursue their lives without fear of deportation.” Biden’s plan notes action to fully restore the DACA program the current administration has decimated (and is refusing to reopen, in defiance of a court order), as well as “urgent action to end” policies that are “violations of human dignity.”
”Biden will immediately reverse the Trump Administration’s cruel and senseless policies that separate parents from their children at our border,” the plan said, as well as end the inhumane Remain in Mexico policy, Safe Third Country Agreements, reversing the public charge rule, and “[e]nding the so-called National Emergency that siphons federal dollars to build a wall.”
An immigration plan previously released by Biden promised that he “will increase resources for training and demand transparency in and independent oversight over ICE and CBP’s activities. Under a Biden administration, there will be responsible, Senate-confirmed professionals leading these agencies, and they will answer directly to the president,” the plan said. These agencies have commonly defied both laws and Congress, and during the Obama administration ignored memos “directing agents to replace the rubber stamp in deportation cases with common sense,” immigration attorney David Leopold wrote in 2014.
The plan further pledges to “nominate and appoint people who look like the country they serve and share Biden’s commitment to rigorous enforcement of civil rights protections,” including to his cabinet. Also notable in the plan is a commitment to establish a Smithsonian National American Latino Museum, following historic passage of legislation in the House last month. “Latino history is intricately woven into the history of America and must be preserved and celebrated,” the plan said.
“Joe Biden believes that the story of America is one of ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” the plan, available to read in full here, said. “The Latino community is a core part of the American community and their contributions are evident in every part of society. Our nation’s ability to draw and welcome hard-working, aspirational people from every culture, from every nation is an indisputable strength. Our diversity is the source of America’s constant renewal—the reason we’ve been able to remake ourselves over and over.”