FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2013
CONTACT: ACLU of Florida Media Office, (786) 363 - 2737 media@aclufl.org
MIAMI – Early this morning, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to overhaul our nation’s immigration system and provide a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States.
The following statement on the bill is by Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida:
“We are very pleased that Congressional leaders are finally taking steps to fix our broken immigration system by proposing a roadmap to citizenship for millions of aspiring citizens.
“For too long, millions of people in America – including hundreds of thousands in Florida – have had no effective way to become citizens of the country they love and that they and their families call home. The bill presented today may finally change that. As the legislative process goes forward, we will work to make sure that a final bill keeps intact a path to citizenship while protecting the rights of all Americans.
“The introduction of a bill is an enormous step, but it is just one step in the process. Civil libertarians must remain engaged to ensure that a final bill does not leave in place - or make worse - the flaws in our current immigration enforcement and border security systems.
“We must make it clear why excluding from citizenship individuals based on minor crimes, delaying citizenship by further ramping up our already-militarized borders to meet unrealistic goals when previous benchmarks have been met and exceeded, mandating invasive and error-prone employment verification, failing to fully address the lack of due process in the immigration enforcement and detention system, and splitting up families because of sexual orientation would mean leaving many of the elements of the current broken system in place.”
“Reform of our immigration system is decades overdue, and because of the number of immigrants living in Florida, this legislation will have a significant impact on our communities. The ACLU of Florida will continue to work to make sure that all aspiring citizens – and all Floridians – can fully enjoy our Constitution’s protections and promise of equality.”
More information on the ALCU of Florida’s work for immigrants’ rights is available here: http://aclufl.org/issues/immigrants-rights/
A separate statement from Nationwide ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero is available here: http://www.aclu.org/immigrants-rights/aclu-gang-8-bill-important-first-step-needs-improvement
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