FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

White House Homeland Security Meeting an Opportunity for Secretary Napolitano to Lead on Immigration Reform

Contact:
Francisco Lopez, Executive Director, 503.984.6816
Erik Sorensen, Communications Director, 503.488.0263

Salem, Ore.--Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will meet with immigrant advocates and leaders from faith, business, and labor to discuss immigration reform.  A number of leaders of the Reform Immigration for America campaign are invited.  The following is a statement by Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, which is a member of the Reform Immigration for America campaign

We want the Secretary of Homeland Security to be public and vocal, making the case to the American people that we need comprehensive immigration reform.  She is supposed to be leading the immigration reform effort on behalf of the President and we need more leadership from the Secretary to make the President's commitment to reform a reality.

We urgently need immigration reform because ramping up enforcement of our out-of-date system is only making a bad situation worse.  The President has made clear that it is the laws, not just the enforcement of the laws, that needs changing.  In order to properly enforce the immigration system, we must legalize the undocumented, reunify families, ensure due process, and create a viable future flow system so immigrants enter with visas and rights, not with smugglers and limited rights.

We want Secretary Napolitano to take the lead and show concrete progress towards reform because the process must begin in earnest in 2009 if it is to be completed in early 2010.

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CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition, is the largest Hispanic civil and human rights and advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest. For more information, visit www.causaoregon.org We work to defend and advance immigrant rights through coordination with local, state, and national coalitions and allies.

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