ACLU in Favor of Moving House Immigration Bill Forward

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON– House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and members of the Democratic Caucus today at a press conference on the U.S. Capitol steps announced the discharge petition on H.R. 15, the bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act introduced last year. If required signatures are obtained, the discharge petition will force a floor vote in the House.

Laura W. Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office, stood alongside Leader Pelosi at this morning’s press conference and had this to say:

“We fully support all efforts to ensure that comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for the undocumented, receives a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Ms. Murphy. “However, while we wait for Congress to move forward, millions of families continue to be devastated under the current enforcement system, and the stakes are simply too high to continue to postpone the reforms that our communities need. The Administration should use its authority to alleviate the suffering of these families.”

H.R. 15 essentially mirrors S. 744 passed by the Senate in June, 2013 except that it replaces that bill’s “border surge” provisions with a combination of bipartisan border security language (passed by committee as H.R. 1417) and provisions from the Senate bill requiring the development of a border security strategy. The legislation has three Republican co-sponsors – California Reps. Jeff Denham and David Valadao, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.