This Week in Immigration Reform — Week Ending September 19

Week Ending September 19

This week in immigration reform: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.) write an op-ed in The Hill highlighting Citizenship Day and the value of effective immigrant integration; NCLR posts another installment of the “Hanging in the Balance” blog series; and urges our community to register and turn out to vote in November.

–REPRESENTATIVES ROS-LEHTINEN (R-Fla.) AND CARDENAS (D-Calif.) HIGHLIGHT CITIZENSHIP DAY AND IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION:  In celebration of Citizenship Day, September 17, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Tony Cardenas come together as first-generation Americans to recognize the importance of citizenship and the need to encourage legal permanent residents to successfully integrate and become Americans. In their op-ed, they mention the New American Success Act, their bill to improve immigrant integration, specifically with English and civics education. Enabling immigrants to access all the rights of American citizenship strengthens our communities and our country.

–NCLR CONTINUES ‘HANGING IN THE BALANCE’ SERIES WITH STORY OF FAMILY THREATENED BY DELAY IN EXECUTIVE ACTION:  The delay of executive action by the Obama Administration has put thousands of potential families at risk of separation by deportation. One such family from Ohio is highlighted in NCLR’s latest blog post. Seleste Wisniewski is an American citizen married to Pedro Hernandez Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant. Pedro has been in the United States for more than a decade and is the primary caretaker of their son, Juan, 24, who has severe cerebral palsy. Pedro is ineligible for sponsorship by his wife because he has been in the U.S. without status for too long. Seleste and her four U.S. citizen children urge President Obama to act on immigration reform so that they continue to be together as a family.

–NCLR SENDS MESSAGE TO ACTION NETWORK “This is Unacceptable.” You should have received a message in your inbox from NCLR Deputy Vice President, Clarissa Martinez- De-Castro, this week. We sent the email to our action network to share that in response to the profound disappointment to the President’s delay on executive action, we are encouraging our community to send a message to lawmakers by registering to vote and casting our ballots this November. Check out the NCLR Voter Registration Tool and share a link to it on Facebook!