By El Nuevo Día - Washington, D.C. - Hispanic Federation President Frankie Miranda asked President Biden and Vice President Harris to achieve parity for Puerto Rico in federal programs and for the Justice Department to stop challenging the island residents' access to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Miranda and 11 other national Latino leaders met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House last Tuesday.
According to Miranda, they also discussed Biden's Build Back Better agenda; a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers -immigrant youth people who were brought to the United States as children without documentation-; voting rights and Latino representation among other issues.
The meeting was held on August 3, the second anniversary of the El Paso massacre, Texas, where a white supremacist man killed 23 people and injured 23 others, including women and children.
"I asked President Biden and Vice President Harris to achieve parity for Puerto Rico in federal programs by directing the Justice Department to stop defending the U.S. v. Vaello-Madero case as it heads to the U.S. Supreme Court," said Miranda.
The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. "The 1st Circuit Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to discriminate against an American citizen based on where they live within the U.S. and we believe the Biden administration should let that ruling stand," added Miranda.
Latino Community leaders from Latino Victory, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, Mi Familia Vota and Voto Latino were among the organizations that met with President Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House.