Tomorrow is the State of the Union address — President Obama’s sixth — and Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Yvette Clarke today have released a letter asking him to respond to the “ongoing deportation crisis” in his speech.
The two Representatives also sent a letter co-signed by 26 of their colleagues to Obama last month, asking him to halt deportations for those who would qualify for immigration reform. President Obama will deport his 2 millionth immigrant sometime in the next few weeks — and is on track to deport more than any other president has, ever.
As Rep. Grijalva said today:
This issue is simply not going to solve itself, and the president knows it. Waking up each morning wondering whether you’ll be separated from your family is not any kind of way to live your life in the United States. We need a realistic policy, and we’re hoping we hear more about the way forward next week.
Echoed Rep. Clarke:
The continued deportation of Americans who lack legal status has separated millions of families across our nation. This policy must end. With Congress currently debating immigration reform, the practice of continued deportation risks the very men and women who will have the ability to apply for permanent legal status and citizenship under a new system of immigration. The current policy of deportation undermines the goals and principles of immigration reform, and I therefore join my colleagues again in asking President Obama and Secretary Johnson to suspend deportation proceedings and expand deferred action. We must protect American families from the threat of separation and allow immigration reform to work.
