Eric Lopez

ALT Virginia Young Democrats Letter on Opposing HR 29 and Protecting Virginia Immigrants January 21, 2025 Congressman Suhas Subramanyam 119th Congress US Capitol Washington, D.C. The Virginia Young Democrats express their great disappointment to see your recent vote to support HR 29 and with a second vote scheduled for tomorrow, we urge you to reconsider your support. As some of your most loyal supporters and hardest working volunteers in your first election as Delegate, your successful run for State Senate, and your successful bid for Congress this last fall, we have put our trust in you to do right by your constituents, many of whom would be directly affected and harmed by this bill. Voting for it would be a direct betrayal of that support and trust. It is a key Democratic tenet to not persecute or judge anyone based on where they come from or what their immigration status is and to see one of our elected officials disregard our principles is a deep betrayal.

ALT This bill will also allow states to enact laws that target populations from specific countries and sue the Federal Government for not cooperating with them, even at the expense of other states that do not wish to do the same. This will allow Attorneys General from certain states to cause chaos in the federal courts as the bill provides a blanket standing, regardless of whether a state has any interest whatsoever in the case or policy being challenged. Without the ability to dismiss for lack of standing, the federal courts would immediately be drowning in immigration lawsuits. The Virginia Young Democrats has had a long standing support for helping our undocumented population in our Commonwealth. We fought hard alongside our allied organizations for Virginia to provide DACA recipients with drivers’ licenses and in-state tuition and you, Congressman, were there with us. In your first session in the House, you voted yes on SB 34 in 2020 to give Driver privilege cards to undocumented im