Members: The Federal Government Must Take Immediate Action on Immigration Reform
TIM, Immigration, Reform Immigration For America
Diverse Congressional Coalition Stands Together to Say Enough is Enough; Democratic Senators Unveil Immigration Reform Framework
Washington D.C. – Today, Representatives of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Senator Menendez (D-NJ) and others joined together to condemn Arizona’s harsh and extreme anti-immigrant law and to call for movement on comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. Senate. Last weekend the eyes of the entire nation were focused on Arizona as it became the most dramatic example of the federal government’s failure to fix our broken immigration system.
Members of Congress gathered to point out that the new law is fraught with legal, ethical, and moral issues, and has created an imperative for the federal government to act right away to fix the broken immigration system with comprehensive immigration reform. Without bold federal action, they said, the American people would be subjected to more band-aid patchwork fixes that are costly, strain law enforcement, tear apart communities.
“This law has turned Arizona into 1960’s Alabama,” said Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum and Chair of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. “Families will be under siege, parents will be afraid to send their children to school, and workers will be afraid to report to their jobs. In the United States of America, no one should have to be afraid to walk down the street because of the color of their skin. This misguided law is an attack on America’s values. It has been condemned on the right and the left, and underscores how badly we need a permanent federal fix to the broken immigration system. The President and the Congress must act NOW.”
Following the press conference today, the Associated Press and La Opinion reported on the release of an immigration reform draft proposal authored by Senators Reid (D-NV), Schumer (D-NY) and Menendez (D-NJ). “This framework is a clear step forward but it is not nearly enough. We call upon Republicans and Democrats to come together to introduce bipartisan legislation in the immediate future,” said Ali Noorani. “Furthermore, we call upon the President to personally intervene to bring together Republicans and Democrats to forge bipartisan immigration reform legislation that addresses the moral crisis erupting across our nation. The crisis in Arizona today only shows what happens when the federal government fails to do its job. Unless and until the Obama Administration and Congress act, we will only have more empty promises, ineffective enforcement policies, chaos in our communities, and broken families.”
