This Week in Immigration Reform – Week Ending July 4, 2014
Week Ending July 4, 2014
This week in immigration reform: President Obama announces that Speaker of the House John Boehner has told him that the House will not vote on immigration reform legislation this year, forcing the President to use his executive authority to fix our immigration system; NCLR’s Janet Murguía calls on President Obama to act to fix our broken immigration policies at an AFL-CIO panel; Darrell Issa and 33 other House Republicans sign a letter calling for the DACA program to be ended and for DREAMers to be deported; and thousands of new Americans across the country choose to become citizens on this 4th of July holiday. NCLR kept the community informed in a number of media appearances this week, with staff quoted in the Associated Press, The Hill, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and MSNBC.
–President Obama says that Speaker Boehner has told him no vote on reform this year, announces intent to use executive authority to fix immigration system. On Monday, June 30 President Obama said that Speaker of the House John Boehner has told him that he won’t be permitting any votes on immigration reform legislation in the House this year. Therefore, the President announced, he will use his executive authority to fix our broken immigration policies and to provide some relief to the millions of aspiring Americans facing the constant threat of deportation.
With House Republican leadership continuing to obstruct progress on this issue, NCLR welcomes executive actions from the White House to ease the pain that our community is forced to endure every day. We will also encourage the administration to build on the successful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by offering work authorization and temporary relief from deportation to those who can demonstrate family connections to U.S. citizens and others lawfully present, as well as to those with long-term residence in and ties to their communities.
–NCLR’s Janet Murguía calls on President Obama to act on immigration at AFL-CIO panel. NCLR’s Janet Murguía spoke at a panel discussion this Tuesday, July 1 on immigration reform policy and workers’ rights, joining the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), the AFL-CIO, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). Murguía argued that President Obama must act immediately to fix our broken immigration system, since House Republicans have refused to act. Click here to watch the full program.
Murguía also joined a press call on Tuesday, July 1 to discuss a new report by the Center for American Progress that details the steps that the president can take, under his broad discretionary authority, to begin fixing our misguided immigration enforcement practices. 
Janet Murguía speaking at the AFL-CIO panel on immigration reform (photo courtesy of LCLAA).
—Darrell Issa, 33 other Republicans sign letter calling for DACA to end and for DREAMers to be deported. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) found 33 other House Republicans this week to join him in sending a letter demanding that President Obama end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, thereby effectively resuming the indiscriminate deportation of DREAMers.
As we have noted, in the two years since its inception DACA has been overwhelmingly successful in allowing hundreds of thousands of undocumented young people to pursue their career and educational ambitions, free from the constant fear of being deported. Proposing to end a program that allows young people to fully integrate into our society and economy isn’t just spiteful and cruel – it’s counterproductive and nonsensical. Rep. Issa and his co-signers ought to be ashamed to see their names on this letter.
–This 4th of July thousands of new Americans across the country choose to naturalize. This 4th of July thousands of individuals will choose to become American citizens in naturalization ceremonies held across the country. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for one, will be naturalizing around 9,000 new citizens in more than 100 ceremonies between June 30 and July 4. You can find a full list of these naturalization ceremonies, by date and location, here.