For immediate release
Contact: B. Loewe, 773.791.4668, bloewe@ndlon.org
Reaction: Free From Legislative Strategy, President Obama Can Do the Right Thing on Immigration
He Must Maximize Existing Authority to End Injustice of the Status Quo
Washington, DC – June 30, 2014.
In reaction to the President’s comments this afternoon, Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:
This is a pivotal moment in the movement for migrant rights. What comes next will be defining moment for the President and for the country. In de-linking his immigration policy from his legislative reform strategy, the President is now free to do the right thing, and he can fulfill the promise of being a transformative president.
The President’s enforcement-first strategy and his misguided deportation policy were premised on the possibility of legislative reform, but it is now very clear Congress itself is broken.
We fully expect the President to maximize use of existing authority to ameliorate the injustice of the status quo, and we pledge to work with the administration to fend off the attacks from nativists that will surely come, if and when, he does the right thing. Until then, we will continue our efforts to escalate opposition to unnecessary and unjust deportations.
NDLON and the #Not1More Campaign are planning a day of action in Washington to ensure the President uses his authority to expand deferred action, halt deportations, and reverse criminalization on August 2nd.
In February of 2014, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network filed an official rulemaking petition with the Department of Homeland Security outlining the President’s executive authority to act on immigration and requesting the department cease its deportations and expand deferred action to the fullest extent possible under the law. The rulemaking petition can be read here.
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