WASHINGTON-Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) sent a memo to the President urging him to sign a strong executive order on immigration. The text of the memo’s introduction is below and the full text can be found here.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus calls on President Obama to provide comprehensive relief to immigrants residing in our nation through executive action. Expansive and robust action that addresses the economic, family, community and national problems we now face is urgently needed. Republicans in Congress have made it clear they will not engage in a good faith effort to fix our broken immigration system. The president has the legal authority and moral imperative to provide relief for over 7 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the shadows.
Our current deportation system is inhumane and wastes billions of taxpayer dollars. Choices between addressing the needs of millions of aspiring Americans and attempting to satisfy the demands of an uncompromising and entrenched opposition are inevitable. We should stand for what is right for our nation. This memo contains our requests for a new affirmative relief program and an expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The administration should act swiftly and comprehensively. We should not force deserving individuals and families to wait any longer.
The CPC previously released a statement calling on the President to stay deportations in order to keep families together until an executive order was signed.
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