Called for Comprehensive Reform, Serious Republican Leadership

Today, in a major address to the nation, President Obama reiterated the urgent need to fix our broken immigration system through comprehensive immigration reform. The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum and Chair of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign:

“The President today gave a very frank and strong speech on the immigration crisis in America. He pointed out the false claims that paralyze our immigration debate: the bogus and stale rhetoric of border security first, the demonization of immigrants, and the idea that we cannot ever achieve comprehensive reform because it’s an election year.

The President rightly called for government to do its job and for a crackdown on employers who violate our laws and exploit undocumented workers. And he called for “responsibility” from immigrants who are here illegally.

Most importantly however, the President called for a comprehensive fix to our broken immigration system that would secure the border, crack down on illegal hiring, and require illegal immigrants to register, pay a fine and taxes, go through background checks, and study English, in order to apply for legal status and eventually citizenship.

We’re pleased that the President is engaged and we hope that we’ll see strong and relentless leadership from the President going forward. For this to pass, the administration should make concrete commitments and engage in this debate the way they did in health care and financial regulatory reform.

On the other hand, Republicans must offer more than tough talk and tired “border first” talking points. Border security is a necessary but insufficient part of getting immigration reform right. It does nothing to stop the jobs magnet or bring the 11 million unauthorized immigrants into the system legally. And it does nothing to reform our legal immigration system so that it can respond flexibly to future labor market needs. We don’t need window dressing, more tough talk, or more empty gestures. We need leadership on comprehensive reform.

Democrats have offered a strong, comprehensive proposal in the Senate and a strong, comprehensive proposal in the House. Republicans need to step up and work with them and the President to make reform a reality.

Congress must act immediately in a bipartisan way to solve this problem for the American people once and for all. We can no longer afford the broken status quo, and punting this issue to the next Congress would be yet another abdication of responsibility from our government. The broken immigration system is a national crisis, and Congress should treat this crisis with the urgency and dedication it merits.”

Categories: comprehensive immigration reform

Tags: obama immigration