April 29, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC – The effects of Arizona's new immigration law (SB 1070) have created a national crisis that is resonating throughout the country, said NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. Yesterday, several members of Congress stood up and spoke out against the misguided Arizona law.

"We applaud Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who are set to officially unveil their outline for a comprehensive immigration reform bill this afternoon. In the wake of the Arizona law, the urgency for both political parties in Congress and the administration to act on immigration reform could not be clearer," said Clarissa Martínez De Castro, NCLR's Director of Immigration and National Campaigns.

"However, while the movement is encouraging, it's not good enough" continued Martínez De Castro. "The time for talking and posturing is over. The president needs to bring Democrats and Republicans together to work on a solution that will appeal to our highest ideals as Americans, not our worst fears."

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus yesterday condemned the Arizona law and called on the Senate to fix our broken immigration system now. Some congressional leaders are heeding the call.

"Members of both parties have an open invitation to work toward the passage of immigration reform," continued Martínez De Castro. "But the alternative is now clear. In the absence of reform, we could have 50 different laws for immigration enforcement across the country that target ethnicity and appearance, endangering the civil rights of U.S. citizens and legal residents," she concluded.

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National Council of La Raza