President Obama's Action on Immigration and Madison's Reaction

Today I released the following statement regarding the President's action on immigration:

I support President Obama's plan to reform U.S. Immigration policy. By using his lawful authority, he is granting relief to millions of hard working individuals, mothers and fathers who are going to work every day, earning a living, paying taxes and raising their families. That is what we would call the American Dream.

Every President since President Eisenhower has used executive authority to provide temporary immigration relief and in fact, there have been 37 instances of Presidents using executive authority since 1956. That action has come under both Republican and Democratic administrations so this is not, and should not be, a partisan issue. This is a human rights issue.

Although this move, long overdue, puts the President at odds with Congressional Republicans, I feel the majority of hard working Americans support the right of our friends and neighbors to stop living in the shadows and to be able to play by the rules. President Obama will take his case to the American people today and I look forward to hearing more about his plans.

I hope you were able to watch coverage of the press conference that Karen Menendez Coller, Centro Hispano Executive Director, and Sal Carranza, President of Latinos United for Change and Advancement (LUChA) today. As you can see from the photos, they were joined by many leaders in the community, including Gloria Reyes, my newest Mayoral Assistant.

Karen and Sal spoke eloquently about what the President's actions mean to millions of people. Sal pointed out that we are a nation of immigrants and people want to contribute to our great country. He described the President's actions as the honorable, moral and humane thing to do, and challenged Congress to take action and make the President's actions permanent. Karen pointed out that she and staff at Centro will be working with people in the coming weeks and months to determine what the changes will actually mean to families and individuals. I thank Centro, LUChA and their many supporters and sister organizations for their leadership!