Immigration

Tim is proud that the United States is a nation of immigrants. Since the nation’s founding, those who have come to this country from around the world have been integral to our society. Virginia is home to over one million immigrants, making up 13% of the Commonwealth’s population and about 17% of Virginia’s workforce. Their skills and hard work are critical in ensuring that the United States and our Commonwealth continue to grow and prosper.

Tim supports comprehensive immigration reform, including creating a better legal immigration system to meet America’s labor and family needs, enhancing border security, and creating a path to citizenship. Tim delivered the Senate’s first ever floor speech in Spanish, making the case for a comprehensive bill that would meet these goals in 2013.

Tim has also been a leading voice in Congress on the importance of protecting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients who are living in the U.S. after being displaced by dangerous conditions in their home countries. Over 22,000 TPS holders live in Virginia as of March 2021. Tim has cosponsored legislation to give TPS recipients the opportunity to become permanent residents of the United States and called for TPS designations for countries with major humanitarian crises, including Cameroon, Venezuela, and Ukraine. Tim also championed efforts to increase the number of Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to enable Afghans who risked their lives supporting the U.S. mission in Afghanistan to escape dangers they face due to their service to our nation.

Tim is also committed to ensuring that Dreamers, immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, can keep contributing to the nation that they grew up in and love. Tim is a strong supporter of the Dream Act, which would protect Dreamers from deportation and create a path to citizenship for them.