CNN
By Mick Krever
April 30, 2014
Immigration
reform in the United States, long forestalled, is a matter of
practicality, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN's Christiane
Amanpour on Tuesday.
"This
isn't about favors for anybody; this isn't about where the rules were
broken or not," he said. "This is about being practical, pragmatic and
making sure that we
have that workforce for tomorrow.
Garcetti
himself is the product of America's melting pot; he is Los Angeles'
first Jewish mayor, is part-Mexican, and bilingual. At 43, Garcetti is
the city's youngest
mayor in a century.
"All
Americans, whether you're Latino or not Latino, have a stake in making
sure the immigrants who, again, don't just come from Latin America,
but come from Asia and
Europe and Canada -- that they're fully integrated into our country.
"It's
been the strength of our country. It'll be the demographic growth of
our country, and the economic driver of this country.
U.S.
President Barack Obama has long wanted to pass reforms to fix
immigration rules that are widely considered by both parties to be
broken.
The
effort appeared to have broken down several months ago, but there are
new signs that the House of Representatives' Republican leader, John
Boehner, will try to get
a bill passed this year.
"I'm
always an optimist," Mayor Garcetti said. "I'm the kind of baseball
fan, who when we're down 11-2 in the 9th [inning] still thinks we can
win the game. And I do hope
that Speaker Boehner will.
Reform, he said, is a matter of necessity - not choice.
"As
a mayor of Los Angeles, I can't afford to look at a pothole and decide
whether it's a Left or a Right issue. It has to be paved. In the same
way, we're looking for
Congress to have America first in its mind.
"I
wouldn't be here today as the forty-second mayor of the City of Los
Angeles -- the second biggest city in America and one of the world's
great cities -- were it not for
my own family story."
Some of his Jewish and Mexican ancestors "came here probably without any papers," he said.
"But
they believed in this country. They invested in their well-being and in
their family, they worked hard, and today I'm able to lead this city
because of that.
"That is the American story. We need to create more of those instead of shutting them away into the shadows where we all lose.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment