This Week in Immigration Reform — Week Ending March 6
Week Ending March 6
This week in immigration reform: Nearly 300 community leaders participated in National Latino Advocacy Days,Congress funds the Department of Homeland Security; and NCLR continues a new blog series highlighting the impact of administrative relief.
Braving the weather, hundreds attend National Latino Advocacy Days: This Wednesday, nearly 300 Latino leaders from across the country participated in a day-long event promoting advocacy for Latino priorities. Attendees represented 24 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Check out tweets and photos from the event on Twitter with #NLAD15. Also, take a look at NCLR’s Facebook photo album on why Latinos vote.
Proud to be in Illinois delegation @nclrempowers #nlad15 @eriehouse @Instituto1977 @latinopolicy @EnlaceChicago #DAPA pic.twitter.com/9GbA9asnN7
— Enlace Chicago (@EnlaceChicago) March 4, 2015
Latino Advocacy Days followed the NCLR Capital Awards where NCLR recognized the work of Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and honored longtime immigration reform advocate, Frank Sharry. During her remarks, NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía warned the Republican Party about the political consequences of their rhetoric and policies that are adversely affecting not only the Latino community, but the entire nation’s best interests. You can see Janet’s speechhere.
Congress passes DHS funding bill without harmful immigration amendments: This week the House of Representatives passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of this fiscal year. This was after much political maneuvering and uncertainty. House Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the version of the bill that passed in the Senate, one that removed the harmful language defunding President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. NCLR applauds the passage of a clean DHS funding bill.
Also this week, House Republicans found time for a two-day markup of four-immigration related bills. These bills would promote a national racial profiling protocol, take an ineffective enforcement-only approach to fixing our immigration system, and would deny due process to some of the most vulnerable immigrants: child refugees. In a statement, NCLR’s Clarissa Martínez-De-Castro said “These bills are a conscious, premeditated attack against millions of American families and a direct blow at the heart of the Latino community. They are representative of the backward thinking that has replaced a solution-driven approach to immigration in Washington, and they show a disregard for the civil rights of all Americans.”
Second installment of our blog profiling deferred action success stories: This week’s “Living the American DREAM” blog post features Steven Arteaga Rodriguez, a 19-year-old from Houston and a DACA recipient who was brought to the United States when he was four months old. Steven got the chance to meet with President Obama to discuss how his executive actions have impacted the lives of immigrants and their families. DACA enabled Steven to search for work without fear of deportation. To continue the success of deferred action programs, Steven urged his fellow DREAMers to apply, saying “If we don’t apply, we don’t take this opportunity, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We’ve gotten this far, and it wouldn’t be fair for all those DREAMers that fought if, you know, not everybody applied.”