FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Dione Friends, (713)-942-8146 x 110, (832) 291-4816; [email protected]
Houston – The framework released by the “Gang of Eight” rightly includes the creation of a roadmap to citizenship, but also includes provisions that endanger everyone’s civil liberties and do nothing to reverse the recent extraordinary and unwarranted increase in wasteful spending on border security.
The following statement can be attributed to Terri Burke, ACLU of Texas Executive Director:
“We agree with President Obama that there is much to celebrate in the Immigration Reform proposal from the Gang of Eight. I would prefer that the plan remain totally focused on a path to citizenship for the millions of immigrants already here and on those who will want to come here in the future. Setting a trigger based on border enforcement distracts from the real immigration issues that confront us and wastes time and resources on a non-existent problem. With nearly 10 Border Patrol agents per mile on the Southwestern border, combined with local law enforcement and the state police - Department of Public Safety in Texas- our border is well protected. Governors like Rick Perry and Arizona's Jan Brewer should not have the authority to further delay providing a legal path to residency that so many of these 11 million have been waiting on so long. Many have been standing at the end of the line for too long."
The following statement can be attributed to Krystal Gomez, ACLU of Texas Advocacy and Policy Counsel:
“Border enforcement spending continues to increase wastefully and without regard to genuine public safety needs. The reality that we, who live on the border know, is that the border is secure. The broad consensus among both federal and local law enforcement leaders along the southern border of Texas is that our cities are safer now than they have been in decades. This consensus is backed up by crime data that show that our border cities have lower violent crime rates than the national average. We don’t need a ‘safer’ border. We need a better border; one where community members are not living in a militarized zone with minimized civil liberty protections and drones patrolling our skies. Real reform must include a downsizing of unnecessary spending on the border.”
The following statement can be attributed to Rebecca Robertson, ACLU of Texas Legal and Policy Director:
“As important as immigration reform is to our state, Texans do not need or want a national ID system to be part of it. Error-prone identification systems like E-Verify endanger the privacy rights and livelihood of Texans. According to a DHS-funded study, E-Verify fails to identify undocumented workers 54% of the time. Nor does such a system prevent unscrupulous employers from hiring illegally. Calls for new and expensive electronic employment-verification systems are thinly disguised national ID requirements – permission slips from the government that Texans would need in order to work.”
ACLU Framework
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.
