Inspiring Words by President Obama on Immigrants and Immigration Policy Must be Followed by Concrete Actions

Following the first major speech by President Obama on immigrants and immigration, leaders of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), the largest network of immigrant-led organizations in the country, had the following responses:

Angela Sanbrano, NALACC’s Board President stated: “We commend the President for taking a public position on immigration and immigrants, at a time of rising xenophobic and racist attacks against this very population in the U.S. and elsewhere. We could not agree more with President Obama when it comes to the invaluable role today’s immigrants play in the U.S., from the generation of wealth all around, to sacrificing their very lives while serving in the armed forces of the United States of America. At the core of our current immigration policy there is a view of today’s immigrants as a threat to the nation, which is what makes it so incredibly inhumane, broken, wasteful and dysfunctional. For a new U.S. immigration law architecture, one that is truly fair and visionary, our policy makers and the general public must recognize the value of immigrant communities, as well as the fact that we all are fellow human beings.”

Juvencio Rocha-Peralta, NALACC Board Vice President, and President of the Mexicans Association of North Carolina (AMEXCAN), stated: “We call on President Obama to use his presidential leadership to ensure that the year 2010 does not come to an end without taking concrete steps that can bring us closer to the overall immigration policy reform the country and immigrant communities need. Specifically, we call on President Obama to fully support the passage of the DREAM Act, AgJobs, and several other limited-reach pieces of immigration reform legislation. For Latino immigrant communities who were a key factor for the election of Barack Obama as President, it is not enough to just be told kind and inspiring words. We need the President and our congressional leaders to demonstrate with deeds their commitment to bring about change, and to roll up their sleeves and produce concrete initial results we can truly believe in.”

Oscar Chacon, NALACC’s Executive Director stated: “As President Obama acknowledged, our current immigration law is broken, and it has been so for many years. To blindly go about enforcing such a law, especially when doing so breaks families apart, is immoral. Immigrant communities are by and large, law abiding and firm believers in the rule of law. The rounding, detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants whose only infraction is to be in the country without immigration authorization has to be weighed against the lack of sufficient enforcement in so many other areas of laws such as consumer fraud and protection, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking, etc. At a time of fiscal constraints, it becomes imperative to be wise in deciding how to best apply limited resources. Instead of continuing to apply a broken immigration law, the federal government should be putting its limited resources in the service of enforcing areas of law that truly render much wider community benefits; and not in the service of appeasing political sectors motivated by hate and prejudice against immigrant populations. In the same vein, local law enforcement agencies must not be allowed to become immigration enforcement agents anymore. We expect President Obama to put an end to all forms of immigration enforcement collaboration schemes between the federal government and local police departments.”

KJ