Time for Congress to address the crisis

Washington, DC—Calling President Barack Obama’s speech on immigration “a necessary step in the right direction,” Janet Murguía, President and CEO of NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, today urged Congress to take action and move forward on comprehensive immigration reform.

"The president’s speech comes at a crucial moment—we have a civil rights crisis in our hands due to federal inaction on immigration. He understands that the solution to our broken immigration system lies in Washington, not in Phoenix,” Murguía said. “But a speech alone is not enough, and it will not make a difference if the president does not follow through and push both parties in Congress to move a bill forward. It is time to see who stands for solutions and who wants to continue playing politics with people’s lives and America’s interests.”

The speech comes on the heels of Arizona’s controversial new immigration law, which essentially codifies racial profiling and has led to copycat proposals across the country. Such approaches could create an unworkable patchwork of state and local measures that undermine national immigration laws and procedures and open the door to racial profiling.

“It’s time for Washington to stop pretending that we can secure the border without fixing our legal immigration system. It’s time for politicians to stop the dangerous and divisive rhetoric that fans the flames of intolerance in our country, just to score cheap political points,” continued Murguía. “It’s time for Republicans to stop railing against the problem while blocking every attempt to fix it. And it’s time to stop defrauding American taxpayers with the fantasy that we can massively deport 12 million people.”

“America needs an answer. Comprehensive immigration reform is the solution, and the time to act is now. Politicians who stand in the way or sit on the sidelines will be held accountable on Election Day,” concluded Murguía.

For more information, please visit www.nclr.org/immigration | www.facebook.com/nationalcounciloflaraza | www.myspace.com/nclr2008 | http://twitter.com/nclr.

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