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LIW’s Statement on President Obama’s Immigration Reform Speech

Posted July 1, 2010 by Ted Hesson

Scroll down for the video of the president’s speech.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contacts:
Maryann Sinclair Slutsky
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Ted Hesson
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President Obama Challenges Congress To Tackle Immigration Reform

Washington, D.C. - In a speech at American University on July 1, President Obama reiterated his administration’s commitment to passing comprehensive immigration reform, and called on Congress to pass much-needed legislation that will finally repair our broken immigration system.

“What we’ve made clear is that this administration will not just kick the can down the road,” Obama said, citing education and healthcare policy initiatives. “Immigration reform is no exception.”

The president emphasized his commitment to border security, saying that “the southern border is more secure today than at any time in the past 20 years.” But in the same vein, he noted that US borders are “too vast for us to only solve the problem with only fences and border patrols,” and that outdated immigration laws need to be changed to allow immigrants seeking to pursue the American Dream and provide for their families to come to our country legally.

Today’s speech showed the president’s approach to immigration reform, which is sound on many of the particulars of establishing a fairer immigration system that maximizes the contributions of immigrants, for the benefit of immigrants and natives alike. However, Washington’s willingness to deal with serious comprehensive reform remains in question.

As the president acknowledged, without reform, states will likely try to address immigration issues on their own, often with misguided policies that do not constitute real reform. For example, Arizona’s new draconian immigration law will put unreasonable pressure on local law enforcement and threaten the civil rights of Latino residents. Suffolk County, of course, has also pursued a number of anti-immigrant policies that have cost its residents the benefits of immigrants’ contributions, harassed many members of Long Island’s community, and contributed to a countywide climate of hate.

Beyond that, our current immigration system perpetuates a situation that doesn’t benefit anyone—immigrant or native-born.

“Here on Long Island, we recognize the urgent need for immigration reform to maximize immigrants’ economic, social, and cultural contributions to our communities,” said Maryann Sinclair Slutsky, the director of Long Island Wins. “The president’s speech today shows that he understands that immigrants need to be brought out of the shadows, and not forced to live as second-class citizens.”

Under our current immigration system, we’re tearing apart families that play by the rules, and pushing away innovative skilled workers. As the president mentioned in his speech, those immigrants might be the next Andrew Carnegie or Sergey Brin.

“Congress needs to heed the cry from the faith, business, labor, and law enforcement communities across Long Island,” Sinclair Slutsky added. “Legislators need to forgo the political machinations and deal with one of the nation’s most pressing issues now.”

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Long Island Wins (http://www.longislandwins.com) is a communications and organizing campaign focusing on immigration issues and working towards immigration solutions. Representing all Long Islanders of goodwill, we are concerned about the growing climate of fear among the immigrant community, and we aim to shift the debate about immigrants and immigration policy on Long Island in a more positive direction, towards sensible solutions that work for and will benefit everyone.

The president’s speech:

Tags : arizona, immigration reform, obama, press release, sb 1070