President Obama Gets Ball Rolling on Immigration but Concrete Legislative Action is Still Needed

March 05, 2010

thousands to mobilize for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Washington, DC –Yesterday, La Opinión and Los Angeles Times reported that President Obama met with members of his Domestic Policy to discuss strategy to advance a comprehensive immigration reform bill through Congress before the midterm elections. The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-Partisan pro-immigrant advocacy organization based in Washington.

We are encouraged by the President’s efforts to press legislators to advance comprehensive immigration reform in the next few months. Although this is a positive step forward, we expect the President and Congress to move beyond meetings to concrete bipartisan legislative action.

It is important for the President to keep his campaign promise to deliver immigration reform that is tough, fair and practical.  Tens of thousands of Americans will come to Washington on March 21^st, to remind the President of his promise and to call on members of Congress to put partisanship aside, come together and deliver on immigration reform.

The American people are tired of hearing politicians’ empty promises to tackle tough problems, only to watch politics get in the way of real solutions. We need the President and Congress to lead the way forward on immigration solutions. At this moment, the introduction of bipartisan legislative comprehensive immigration reform is the shared responsibility of the President, Senator Schumer and Senator Graham.

We need comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, replaces a broken immigration system with one that works and reflects the interests and the values of the American people. The lives of millions of people and the economic future of our country are at stake.   It’s time for Washington to stop playing politics and deliver results for the American people.

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