NPR
By Richard Gonzales
December 8, 2014
Short
on the heels of a nonbinding House vote to block President Obama's
executive action on immigration, some 20 Democratic U.S. mayors are
meeting today in New York City to send a different
message:
They want to help implement the president's plan.
The
meeting, hosted by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, is significant
because cities, in association with their networks of nonprofit service
providers to immigrants, will be the spear point
of the effort to persuade some 4 million undocumented residents to come
forward and apply for deferred action.
"These
mayors support the president because they know the economic benefit to
their cities," says Laura Burton Capps, spokeswoman for the mayors'
coalition Cities United for Immigration Action.
"They know this will help keep families together and enable immigrants
to trust law enforcement and government."
Large
cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco have extensive
networks with experience reaching out and serving the undocumented. Many
other cities don't have as much experience.
Capps says one purpose of the meeting is for mayors and their aides to
get together to share "best practices."
That includes ways of collaborating and coordinating city services with nonprofit, educational and philanthropic groups.
A
statement issued last week by the mayors says, "We are ready — and
together we're rolling up our sleeves to turn this policy into a better
reality for millions of hardworking people in the
communities we serve."
Among
the agenda items, Capps says, is a summary of lessons that cities and
nonprofits learned from implementing the president's 2012 executive
action called DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA, which would be expanded under the plan Obama announced
last month, was meant to benefit young people ages 16 to 31 who were
brought to this country illegally. So far, though, just over half of the
estimated 1.2 million people who were eligible
for the program have actually come forward.
The
main beneficiaries of the president's new plan will be the undocumented
parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. There are an
estimated 3.53 million such parents. But if
history is any guide, perhaps only half of those people will apply for
deferred action from deportation.
The
mayors, in their statement, make clear they haven't given up hope that
Congress will still pass comprehensive immigration reform.
"While
we continue to urge Congress to enact comprehensive and long-lasting
reform, the president's action will help many immigrants gain the
opportunities, skills and status to reach their
fullest potential, which will help America's cities prosper," their
statement says.
The
coalition of mayors includes New York's de Blasio, Annise Parker of
Houston, Ed Lee of San Francisco, Kasim Reed of Atlanta, Michael Nutter
of Philadelphia, Mike Duggan of Detroit, Betsy
Hodges of Minneapolis and Vincent Gray of Washington, D.C.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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