NCLR to House Republicans: Step Forward but There’s Much Work Still to Do

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January 31, 2014                                                                                           Joseph Rendeiro
                                                                                                                        (202) 776-1566
                                                                                                                        jrendeiro@nclr.org

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Earlier today, House Republicans unveiled a set of immigration principles that provide a framework for how they plan to tackle reforming the nation’s broken immigration system. While NCLR (National Council of La Raza) is encouraged that House Republicans have moved from ‘whether’ to address immigration reform to ‘how,’ lawmakers must take the critical next step to put forward a legislative solution. We welcome the forward movement, but the details of what the principles could mean are important, and we will not accept a solution that creates a group of people with second-class status and no chance to become Americans. Furthermore, while we understand that enforcement improvements are an essential component of any reform, these principles seem unduly focused on enforcement as if no real progress had been made on that front.

“Putting principles down on paper demonstrates that House Republican leadership is ready to get serious about working with their colleagues to find a long overdue solution,” stated Janet Murguía, President and CEO, NCLR. “However, we won’t know what these principles mean until the House produces a legislative proposal that clearly outlines solutions to fix our broken immigration system and to address the 11 million aspiring Americans.”

“We have been urging the House leadership to come to the table with a proposal and we hope that this step will allow them to roll up their sleeves and get to work producing legislation that can garner votes from both sides of the aisle. The Latino community is interested in seeing workable solutions that are in the best interest of the country and that uphold our values as a nation,” concluded Murguía.

NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

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