Janet Napolitano Stresses White House Commitment to Immigration Reform, 2010 Timeline

America's Voice Blog

Posted 11/13/09 at 06:00pm

Janet Napolitano Stresses White House Commitment to Immigration Reform, 2010 Timeline

Today, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano stressed the need to fix our nation’s badly broken immigration system. Her remarks, from an event this morning at the Center for American Progress, are now available here (English) and here (Spanish), with the video of her speech here.

Napolitano argued today for a comprehensive immigration reform plan that emphasizes both strong national security provisions and a pathway to earned citizenship for the undocumented:

Let me emphasize this: we will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows. Making sure these people become full taxpayers and pay their fair share will both benefit our economy and make it easier to enforce the laws against unscrupulous or exploitive employers. A tough and fair pathway to earned legal status will mandate that illegal immigrants meet a number of requirements – including registering, paying a fine, passing a criminal background check, fully paying all taxes and learning English. These are substantial requirements that will make sure this population gets right with the law. It will help fix our broken system.

The Secretary stressed the President’s commitment to immigration reform, trying to, according to the New York Times, “…dispel any notion that the administration … might postpone the most contentious piece of an immigration overhaul until after midterm elections next November.”

She also pointed out this morning that the majority of Americans want comprehensive immigration reform, mentioning that the debate is different from years past.

Erin Rosa quotes Secretary Napolitano in a post at Campus Progress today, saying:

"The businesses, community leaders, labor leaders, faith groups and law enforcement we’ve met with all have different stories, but they all reach the same conclusion: we need reform,” Napolitano said.

But although some elements of the debate are different, such as a President who promises to address the immigration problem with much-needed practical solutions, as well as a new Congress, made up of leaders who promised similar change and progress, we still see some of the same impractical, misguided enforcement tactics carried over from the Bush administration – i.e. laws that allows Sheriff Arpaio to conduct his rights-abusing immigration sweeps.

Andrea Nill from Think Progress asked Napolitano today about Arpaio and the reason DHS decided to cap some of the “toughest sheriff’s” authority. Here’s what Napolitano had to say:

DHS has come under increasing pressure to reign in Sheriff Joe, as Nill notes.

All in all, Napolitano’s speech today was an important step in addressing urgently-needed, common-sense immigration reform. Now it’s time for Congress and the Administration to put serious muscle behind advancing the proposal – and for politicians to set aside partisanship and demagoguery, and get this done.

As we “tweeted ” from the event this morning:

Napolitano: hopes for immigration reform legislation in 2010, says Congress sees need to get it done.

And finally:

Napolitano: we can fix this, immigration is a fixable problem, we look forward to honestly dealing with it.