Activists Demand Action on Immigration Reform

Washington D.C. – Today, as part of her visit to the nation’s capitol, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer went to the White House to meet with President Obama on “border security.” Instead of the political photo-op she planned for, however, she was greeted by loud boos, protestors, and activists eager to denounce Arizona’s discriminatory new law. Hundreds of protestors wielding “Shame on Arizona” signs and a large banner that read: “We Want Comprehensive Reform, Not a Police State” greeted Governor Brewer as she made her way into her White House meeting.

Governor Brewer has become the national poster child of the GOP’s disingenuous focus on so-called “border security.” Her administration has engaged in a concerted campaign to deceive and mislead the public about the necessity of Arizona’s law for political gain. For example, they used a smokescreen of the threat of escalated crime and violence when violent crime in Arizona is at the lowest it has been in years. According to the FBI and a report by the Associated Press, “the top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin. And an in-house Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities… crime reports for 2009 say violent crime in Arizona declined. And violent crimes in southwest border counties are among the lowest in the nation per capita – they’ve dropped by more than 30 percent in the last two decades. Of America’s 25 largest cities, San Diego – with one out of four residents an immigrant – has the lowest number of violent crimes per capita.”

This is part of Governor Brewer’s ongoing and disturbing pattern of misleading the public for political gain. She even deceived the public about her father’s death for political gain. We really can not trust anything Governor Brewer says. But we also can’t trust other GOP politicians who insist that we must put more window-dressing measures like National Guard troops on the border in order to solve our broken immigration system. They need to tell the American people where they stand. Are they for more political games, or are they for solving problems?

“By coming to DC and meeting with the President, Governor Brewer has become the Republican face of the immigration debate,” said Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum and Chair of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. “In fact, her visit wraps SB 1070 – which was passed with only Republican support – firmly around the necks of the GOP.  Do they want to ally themselves with a law that is leading Brewer to lose Hispanic voters hand over fist? Too many national Republicans are content to parrot empty tough talk rhetoric about border security for real work on the solutions offered by comprehensive reform.  Security along the border is necessary, but is only one part of getting immigration reform right.  We need a comprehensive approach that establishes an immigration system that works and deals practically with unauthorized immigrants currently living and working in the United States.”