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Press Release

Statement By LULAC On The Secure Fence Act.

October 26, 2006

Contact: Lizette Jenness Olmos
(202) 833-6130 ext.16
LJOlmos@LULAC.org
 

Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) National LULAC President Rosa Rosales issued the following statement today in response to President Bush’s signing of the Secure Fence Act:

We are very disappointed with the President’s decision to sign the Secure Border Fence Act into law. Earlier this year, President Bush laid out a strategy for comprehensive immigration reform and instead we are left with enforcement-only legislation. We believe that enforcement-only measures alone, like the construction of a border fence, will do nothing to fix our broken immigration system and that a comprehensive approach to immigration reform is the only practical solution. The Department of Homeland Security prefers a virtual fence coupled with an increase in work-related immigration visas.

The President also called on Congress to pass legislation that would secure our borders, enhance worksite enforcement, create a temporary worker program, resolve the status of illegal immigrants already here, and promote assimilation into our society, including by learning English. With no comprehensive immigration reform legislation implies that they favor the status quo which the American people have rejected.

The American people expected Congress to enact feasible and humane immigration policies that would restore the rule of law and enhance security, reunite families, protect workers, promote citizenship and civic participation, and help local communities. The fact that Congress failed to enact such legislation implies that they favor the status quo which the American people have rejected.

This mid-term election season, we urge voters to consider voting for candidates that support comprehensive immigration reform. We will continue to urge the President to work with Congress to finish the job and pass the remaining elements of this much needed comprehensive approach. The American people deserve better.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest and largest Latino membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

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