Deeds Not Words at the White House
By Andrea Reyes-Sierra, Acting Executive Director for Deeds Not Words
We recently had the honor and privilege to be invited as Congressman Casar’s guest to the reception at the White House in honor of the new members of the 118th US Congress. As an organization pushing for progress at the intersections of racial and gender equity within Congressman Greg Casar’s congressional district, this was an opportunity for us to represent young changemakers in Texas, and let President Biden know the urgent issues around abortion and immigration that we are facing in Texas.
With the start of the 88th State Legislative Session, we are seeing proposed legislation that will further restrict our bodily autonomy. From penalizing organizations that help people access an abortion legally out of state, further preventing doctors from being able to provide life-saving procedures, or taking away local municipalities' ability to pass laws that expand small protections around reproductive healthcare. The cherry-on-top to this disaster train is that Texas elected officials are also not doing anything to address maternal mortality rates in the state. We are one of the worst states with maternal mortalities in the nation, where fewer than 1 in 10 people live in Texas, but 1 in 7 of all maternal deaths occurred in Texas.
While we are proud to have worked with Congressman Greg Casar in the efforts of making medication abortion available by mail, this only provides a (much-needed) bandaid in the face of a larger issue — with our country’s legacy of racist and unjust systems, we know that abortion bans and harsh restrictions hit hardest among people of color. As we move forward, we must recognize that Roe was always the floor; and President Biden’s administration has the opportunity to rewrite and rethink the ways in which we protect and expand reproductive freedoms for generations to come.
As a 1st generation Latina born and raised on the border, it saddens me to say that it has been nearly 40 years since Congress passed any comprehensive immigration legislation — this is longer than most of us have even been alive. Now, DACA is dying right before our eyes as politicians are playing with the lives of hard-working students and parents. Furthermore, in Texas, there is legislation being proposed that bars documented immigrants and refugees — on the path to becoming US citizens, like many of our friends and families, from being able to purchase property in the state. This is not the kind of future for Texas, or our nation, that we want to see.
We must push Congress to act now to pass a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented people, and stop using DACA recipients as a bargaining tool to move forward with other pieces of legislation.
We push forward — not through talk. Through deeds.
