Poison pill amendments cannot delay achieving commonsense immigration reform
WASHINGTON, DC–(ENEWSPF)–May 8, 2013. The day before formal mark-up of the Senate immigration bill begins, the multitude of amendments submitted last night revealed promising improvements to the bill and poison pill attempts to delay the roadmap to citizenship for aspiring citizens in America.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Secretary-Treasurer, Eliseo Medina, released the following statement in response to the latest developments:
“In the coming days, the American public will witness Senators championing commonsense immigration reform as they try to strengthen the bill with amendments that aim to protect working families everywhere. These strides move us forward, fulfilling the needs of our country to mend our dysfunctional immigration system and bolster our economy.
“There will be others with extreme and wayward notions of our national values who will offer amendments that threaten the future of this legislation and the millions of aspiring Americans in our country. To those Senators: America is watching.
“Delaying progress or distracting from the real debate with poison pill amendments that thwart a pathway to citizenship for the millions who proudly call the United States home is akin to playing political games–games that put their political futures in peril.
“As they prepare to distract us with border security doubletalk, those Senators and political pundits who spin anti-immigrant rhetoric shouldn’t forget: the consensus in America demands a roadmap–not roadblocks–to citizenship. In fact, our polling this week demonstrated that a strong majority of Americans support the bipartisan immigration bill because of–not despite–the inclusion of a path to citizenship.
“More importantly, as the poll findings showed, voters demand that Congress pass a fair immigration solution and stop making excuses. That’s a clear memo to our elected leaders: Citizenship for our immigrant community is popular; foolish politicking is not.
“The momentum for commonsense immigration reform can’t be ignored. We are committed to working towards a future where our members of Congress deliver a package of immigration reforms that secures an opportunity for our aspiring Americans to earn citizenship, protects all working families and strengthens future immigration channels and the unity of families.”
Source: seiu.org
