Politico
By Seung Min Kim
May 27, 2014
A
growing chorus of immigration groups is sending the same message to
President Barack Obama: No executive action until August at the
earliest, to allow Congress time
to act.
The
coalition of influential advocacy organizations — spanning from
religious groups to labor — issued a statement Tuesday that urged the
House Republican leadership to
act on immigration during a “real window of opportunity” from now until
August. During that time, Obama should hold off on announcing any
changes to how his administration enforces immigration laws, the groups
said.
“For
the good of the country, we urge Speaker Boehner and his colleagues to
seize this moment,” the groups said in the joint statement, referring to
House Speaker John
Boehner (R-Ohio). “After so many promises, inaction now would be more
than a lost opportunity; it would be a moral and economic loss.
“During
this interim, we strongly urge President Obama and his administration
to allow for this process to take place before issuing administrative
action,” the advocates
continued. “We believe the president should move cautiously and give
the House leadership all of the space they may need to bring legislation
to the floor for a vote.”
The
groups issuing the statement included the National Hispanic Christian
Leadership Conference, National Immigration Forum, Service Employees
International Union, Sojourners,
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration.
For
months, immigration groups have focused on two targets: the
Republican-led House, which has yet to put reform bills for a vote on
the floor, and the president, who
advocates believe has some discretion to tweak immigration enforcement
that would effectively slow down the rate of deportations.
But
key Senate Democrats urged immigration advocates at a strategy session
last week to hold their fire against the White House and instead focus
on House Republicans
to urge them to enact an immigration overhaul this year.
Still,
some advocates argue that they can put the pressure on House
Republicans as well as on the administration at the same time. And other
activists have lost hope in
Congress altogether and are solely focused on the White House to
relieve the deportations, which have become a sore spot between Obama
and immigrant rights activists.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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