Inaction on Immigration Reform Reflects Failure of House GOP Leadership

Today marks the one year anniversary of passage of S. 744, the Senate’s historic bipartisan immigration reform bill, also known as the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. It was designed to overhaul our outdated and broken immigration system as well as provide a much-needed path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. In an encouraging show of cooperation, both Republicans and Democrats came together to hash out a deal to address the ongoing immigration crisis brought on by our weary system.

Yet one year later, House Republican leaders have stonewalled every attempt at moving forward on immigration reform. They have refused to vote or introduce their own solution and have they shown no interest in even voting on similar legislation crafted in the House.

So, what have they been doing? Rather than actually taking votes on reform, the House has instead opted to take shameful votes to undo the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It’s no wonder, then, that most members of the Republican conference received failing grades on immigration scorecards we released last month.

In a statement today marking the anniversary, NCLR President and CEO, Janet Murguía called out the House GOP for its failure to lead.

“The track record of House Republican leadership on immigration over the past year is appalling,” said Murguía. “For twelve months, they have been making excuses and pointing fingers at the administration while sitting on their hands and allowing thousands of mothers and fathers to be torn from their children every day. They have failed to act on an issue that not only is supported by voters across the political spectrum but would also be an economic boon to this country by creating jobs and reducing our deficit.”

In the face of this inaction, Murguía and other immigration rights groups have called on the president to act in order to provide much-needed relief:

“House Republican inaction on immigration reform reaffirms the need for the president to step in and address the ongoing crisis that our community faces,” added Murguía. “House leadership can either act now to relieve the pain that hundreds of thousands of families have felt due to our broken immigration system, or they can tarnish their brand with the Latino community for generations to come.”