CHC Lays Out Guiding Principles on Immigration We Should All Live By
By Janet Murguía, President and CEO, NCLR
This week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) held a press conference to announce a set of principles to guide the upcoming push for comprehensive immigration reform. The principles are thoughtful, fair, humane and pragmatic. They also reflect the unity of the Latino community—regardless of subgroup, geography, or party affiliation—on the issues surrounding immigration.
Our community wants to see permanent relief for DREAMers, a path to legality and citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented workers, and the preservation of family unity at the core of our immigration policy. We realize that these measures, together with smart and humane enforcement, are integral to restoring law and order to our country’s immigration system. Without such steps, our country cannot successfully attract and integrate hardworking immigrants from all over the world to maintain an innovative and competitive economy.
While it is true that immigration is not the top issue that our community faces, it is also true that the positions candidates have on immigration were the key motivating factor in getting a record numbers of Hispanics to vote on Election Day. Thus, we believe it would be a very wise move for everyone who is interested in moving forward on this issue with the Latino community to give as much attention as possible to what the CHC is saying. We must swiftly work together to deliver the solutions our country has been waiting for.
