NDLON Responds to Senate Announcement of Principles
 
01.28.2013 – Washington, DC
In response to the announcement of principles by the Senate Gang of Eight this afternoon, Pablo Alvarado, Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, issued the following statement:
 
“With the announcement from the Gang of Eight, we see the hopes and dangers of the coming immigration debate. Any reform must be inclusive of the immigrant workers, gardeners, chefs, and factory workers that the Senators spoke of during the press conference.  Sen. McCain should be applauded for recognizing those who mow our lawns alongside students and engineers. 
 
Reform must unite not divide families or communities. And it cannot continue an outdated 2007 approach. Politics have changed. We expect better. This round of reform must be different.
To be productive, the threat of deportation needs to be taken off the table immediately, by Congress or by the President. Until deportations stop, President Obama and Congress will be in the impossible position of deporting the very people they are ostensibly trying to bring into citizenship.
 
Immigrants themselves need to be part of the reform conversation and a full suspension of deportations will give families breathing room to do so. Our pursuit of political equality for the 11 million undocumented Americans in the United States- should be taken seriously and no longer be held hostage by irrational and outdated fears.”  
 
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