Sec Napolitano: Congress Must Act on Immigration Reform

December 09, 2009

Washington, DC –Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano testified at an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to provide an update on her agency’s achievements including border and interior enforcement and the need for thorough reforms to our immigration system. The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum.  The Forum is a non-partisan, non-profit pro-immigrant advocacy organization in Washington and a member of the Reform Immigration for America campaign.

Today Secretary Napolitano reminded Congress that she is counting on them to act on immigration reform so her Department can keep America safe. She recognized that as long as 12 million people remain outside of the system, the harder it is to achieve control over immigration and enhance security.

Secretary Napolitano was clear in the urgent need for legislative action on immigration, as stated in her opening remarks: “We must seize this moment to build a truly effective immigration system”. She knows that with every day that Congress delays fixing our immigration laws, the task of providing effective law enforcement and national security becomes more difficult.

We also welcome remarks by Senator Leahy, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who acknowledged that most border and immigration enforcement benchmarks have been met but that enforcement alone “will not by itself solve our Nation’s immigration problems”. This sentiment has been echoed by national security experts, who in a press conference yesterday, stated that regardless of security achievements, the bottom line is that without immigration reform, the Department of Homeland Security is restricted from operating in a well-functioning system that controls immigration and secures the border.

We expect strong leadership from the Administration and from Congress to move past rhetoric into concrete action. Americans are counting on their elected leaders to solve the country’s challenging problems. That means transforming our broken immigration system into a system that works, that treats immigrants fairly, puts the undocumented on a path to citizenship and enhances national security by directing our enforcement resources in ways that protects this country from harm.

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