Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has been named Ranking Member of the highly effective House Judiciary Committee’s panel on Immigration, making her the primary immigrant to serve in a management function for the subcommittee.

Jayapal, 57, representing the seventh Congressional District of Washington State succeeds Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to serve on the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, a media launch mentioned.

“As the first South Asian woman elected to the US House of Representatives and one of only two dozen naturalised citizens in Congress, I am honoured and humbled to serve as the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement,” mentioned Jayapal.

“I came to this country when I was 16, alone, and with nothing in my pockets. After 17 years on an alphabet soup of visas to become a US citizen, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to live the American Dream, a dream that is out of reach for too many immigrants today,” she mentioned.

“It is extremely meaningful to me that I will now be in this position to better move the needle and recenter our broken immigration system around dignity, humanity, and justice. As I step into this role, I would also like to thank Representative Lofgren for her years of dedicated leadership on the Subcommittee, and look forward to continuing to work with her,” Jayapal mentioned.

As the House Judiciary Committee will get to work, it’s, sadly, turning into clear that the Republican management of the committee has no intention of partaking in good religion options to reform our immigration legal guidelines, mentioned the Indian American lawmaker from Washington State.

“In the minority, Democrats will have to be an opposition party that stands up to the most extreme ideas of the GOP and protects our values. However, in this role, I also see promise for bipartisan work with a number of more moderate Republicans who themselves understand the need to restore our country as a beacon of hope,” she mentioned.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement will probably be chaired by Tom McClintock (CA-05) and has jurisdiction over immigration legislation and coverage, naturalization, border safety, refugee admissions, non-border immigration enforcement, and different numerous points.

“The fight to reform our immigration laws has been a core tenet of Jayapal’s work in Congress. She has introduced multiple landmark bills and resolutions including her Roadmap to Freedom Resolution, Access to Counsel Act, Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, WISE Act, Protection of Kids in Immigrant Detention Act, and HEAL Act among others to outline a framework for what a fair, humane immigration system could look like,” she mentioned.

Before coming to Congress, Jayapal was a longtime organizer and activist for immigrants’ rights. Following the September 11th assaults, she began OneAmerica (previously Hate Free Zone), the most important immigrant rights group in Washington State that efficiently sued the Bush Administration to stop the deportation of greater than 4,000 Somalis and labored with the Governor to set up a New Americans Council on immigrant integration on the state stage.

For her work at OneAmerica, she was acknowledged as a Champion of Change by the Obama White House. She was the founding co-chair of the We Belong Together marketing campaign to mobilise girls in help of commonsense immigration reform to preserve households collectively and empower girls. She was additionally arrested throughout a civil obedience demonstration protesting the Trump Administration’s zero humanity household separation coverage.

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