Latinos Across the Country Are Watching the House GOP
Since the release of the House GOP leadership’s immigration principles last week, some House Republicans have tried to dial back expectations about the prospects for legislative action this year. But the legislative clock is ticking, the next move is on the House Republicans, the community most affected by reform is watching closely.
As Henrik Rehbinder, Opinion Editor for the leading Spanish language daily, La Opinión, said on today’s “Office Hours”:
On the issue that Republicans cannot trust Obama to enforce the laws, I think for the immigrant community, it is a lame excuse and a cruel joke because Latino and immigrants have suffered nearly two million deportations by this Administration. To say that this is not enough, from the point of view of the deportee, of the families, this argument is unacceptable.
The past week has seen a variety of excuses from House Republicans for why they shouldn’t move on immigration reform this year. In a blog post entitled, “On Trust and ‘Enforcing the Laws’ in the Immigration Reform Debate – A Response to Speaker Boehner,” Simon Rosenberg, President of NDN/New Policy Institute, takes on some of the most widespread Republican excuses about why now is not a good time to tackle immigration reform.
Said Rosenberg on today’s call:
Why exactly are the House Republicans walking from immigration reform? The border is safer today, net migration is zero, deportations of criminal migrants are at all-time highs while trade with Mexico has exploded, creating millions of jobs on both sides of the border. There is a strong argument to be made that no President in American history has been more committed to enforcing our immigration laws and improving border security than President Obama. If they are going to walk away from immigration reform for the 3rd time in the last decade, the House GOP leadership are going to have find a far better set of excuses than distrust of the President and the need for more border security.
“Justice for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America is coming,” said Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice. “The only questions are will it happen legislatively or administratively; and will Republicans pass reform and share credit or will President Obama take executive action and take all the credit? We’re confident that our movement will deliver a victory. The only question is how.”
For recordings and resources from prior Office Hours calls, click here.
RESOURCES:
- To listen to a recording of today’s call, click HERE.
- Read Simon Rosenberg’s “On Trust and ‘Enforcing the Laws’ in the Immigration Reform Debate – A Response to Speaker Boehner”
