SENATE IMMIGRATION HEARING IS A STEP TOWARD REFORM

Washington, DC—NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., today praised the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security for exploring solutions to fix our nation’s immigration system with the hearing, “Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009: Can We Do It and How?”.

“NCLR commends Chairman Schumer’s leadership in opening a constructive debate on immigration. For far too long, we have allowed a bullying minority to block the road to solutions and seed intolerance, yet recent elections have demonstrated that Americans want leaders who will solve tough problems, including immigration,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO.

NCLR’s immigration policy agenda supports a workable and humane immigration system that protects workers and families, measures that protect civil rights and due process and keep the nation safe, and integration strategies that help immigrants become fully participating and contributing Americans.

“Workable and humane immigration reform will restore the rule of law and uphold our nation’s values. It will also provide an important tool in our economic recovery by bringing workers into the system, increasing revenue, and leveling the playing field,” continued Murguía.

The nation’s immigration system is in urgent need of reform that restores dignity and the rule of law and rejects the status quo, which does neither. A true return to legality calls for a system-wide overhaul that addresses problems exacerbated by more than two decades of neglect. Given the complex nature of these problems, it is clear that this issue cannot be solved in a piecemeal fashion. To be effective and achieve a solution that serves the national interest, reform must:

· Restore order by getting the 12 million undocumented people in our country to come forward, obtain legal status, learn English, and assume the rights and responsibilities of citizenship

· Create smart enforcement policies that uphold national security and the U.S. Constitution

· Crack down on unscrupulous employers and take away their incentives for hiring undocumented workers

· Widen legal channels that reunite families and allow future needed workers to come to the U.S. with the rights and protections that safeguard our workforce and prevent the dramatic increase in deaths along the border

· Enact proactive measures to advance the successful integration of new immigrants into our communities

“Comprehensive immigration reform is a solution whose time has come—there is an urgent policy need and a moral imperative for action, and if that were not enough, it’s politically smart. NCLR and its network are ready to work with the administration and Congress to reject the demonization of communities and instead get to work on achieving the solutions our country has been waiting for,” added Murguía.