The United States is a nation of immigrants who come here seeking a better life for themselves and their families, and to contribute to our nation in the process. I know this firsthand because I am proudly married to one.

East Tennessee is a place that values hard work, family, and fairness, and our immigration system should reflect that. We should have secure borders, fair and humane processing, and practical paths to citizenship and legal status for people who are here contributing to our communities

Our immigration system should reflect those values: fair and humane processing, protection for Dreamers and essential workers, and a practical path to citizenship for people who play by the rules and contribute to our communities.

President Trump's horrific immigration agenda is not helping the United States nor making our immigration system work better.

Here are the policies I support to fix our broken immigration system:

• Instituting legislation to immediately claw back the OBBBA provisions that made ICE the 16th largest military force in the world and made our immigration system a pay-to-play system.

• Legislation requiring immigration enforcement officers to clearly display name and agency identification during public-facing operations and prohibit identity-concealing masks.

• Legislation that prohibits immigration enforcement activity at sensitive locations, including hospitals and medical care offices, schools, and places of worship.

• Practical path to legal status: we should institute practical avenues for undocumented immigrants to obtain green cards and citizenship for those who pass background checks, pay taxes, and are contributing to our country.

• Authorize emergency funding to hire immigration judges and support staff to address our years-long immigration case backlogs.

• Ban deportations to third countries.

• Expand and modernize temporary worker programs (H-2A/H-2B) with stronger labor protections, easier domestic hiring flexibility, and regional visa pathways for industries with documented shortages.

• Increase refugee and humanitarian admissions and streamline family reunification processing so legal pathways are viable alternatives to dangerous migration.

• Automatic work authorization for people with pending asylum applications to keep families employed and communities stable.

• Strengthen workplace enforcement against employers who exploit undocumented workers while protecting workers’ rights to report abuses.

• Invest in modern, humane processing centers at ports of entry and increase credible asylum officer capacity to process claims quickly and humanely.

• Congressional oversight: I will use the Congressional oversight power of Congress to investigate corruption and misuse of power in our immigration system. DHS employees who commit abuses will be held accountable.

• Fund English-language and civics programs through public schools and nonprofits so that immigrants to our country can fully participate in civic and economic life.

• Expand workforce readiness programs that connect immigrants to high-demand jobs in East Tennessee so they can contribute their skills where we need them most.

• Promote civic engagement: make ESL and citizenship classes widely accessible.