ACLU Responds to President’s Immigration Announcement

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WASHINGTON – “The President’s plan to work with Congress on a roadmap to citizenship is a clear indication that addressing our country’s immigration problems is a top priority of his second term,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “While there are components of the Senate plan that provide millions of aspiring citizens the legal status they deserve to live, work, and raise their families free of fear, others, such as mandating E-Verify and continued wasteful and unnecessary spending on the border, raise serious civil liberties concerns.”

“The ‘Gang of Eight’ bipartisan collaboration, along with the years of dedicated advocacy from immigrants’ rights groups, that got us to this stage of the immigration discussion is to be applauded,” said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. “Over the coming weeks and months, Congress and the administration, with the guidance of the American people, must work together to pass legislation that ensures that the 11 million aspiring citizens who face detention, deportation, and family separation are granted the constitutional legacy and promise of equality for all, and guaranteed due process.”

ACLU and Immigration. As President Obama and Congress take up immigration reform, the ACLU has developed a framework and urges policymakers to promote the priorities contained therein in any proposals. The framework is available here.

Using targeted impact litigation, advocacy and public outreach, ACLU’s work in this area carries on its commitment to protecting the rights and liberties of all people living in the United States. For over 25 years, we have been at the forefront of almost every major legal struggle on behalf of immigrants’ rights, focusing on challenging laws that deny immigrants’ access to the courts, impose indefinite and mandatory detention, and discriminate on the basis of nationality, race or ethnicity.