WHITE HOUSE MEETING ON IMMIGRATION IS "A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION"

Washington, DC—NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, praises tomorrow’s meeting on immigration with Senate and House leaders at the White House as laying the groundwork for a successful legislative debate this fall.  “America wants solutions, and comprehensive immigration reform is that solution. Now is the time to provide the road map for action,” said NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía.

Poll after poll shows that the vast majority of Americans are in a much more pragmatic place than Congress has been on the issue of immigration. They support a comprehensive overhaul of our broken system that restores the rule of law through earned legalization and smart enforcement. This has been corroborated further in the last election cycles, during which voters rejected key leading anti-immigrant candidates who offer rhetoric but no solutions.

“The Latino community understands the consequences of allowing this issue to fester, to go unresolved,” added Murguía. “Its manipulation by fringe elements in our society has opened a door to intolerance, fueling an increase in hate crimes and hate groups. This has no place in America.”

NCLR believes that we have a moral imperative to put hate in check by addressing immigration effectively and humanely and that we have an urgent policy need to fix a system that tramples our values and fosters illegality and exploitation. We have the public support and momentum to arrive at a solution because comprehensive immigration reform is smart politics. 

Earlier this week, NCLR joined 23 Latino organizations in a letter to the president urging leadership and action on immigration reform this year.

“The Latino community is organized to help the President and Congress get this passed and move us forward together, but we need presidential and congressional leadership to usher in a new kind of debate,” said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, Director of National Campaigns and Immigration at NCLR.

For more information, visit www.nclr.org.