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Sheldon Silver, Speaker • Luis M. Diaz, Chair |
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Immigration Law Alert! |
An Important Message from Assemblymember Luis Diaz Let’s Tell the U.S. Senate to Say NO to H.R. 4437
Last December, the United States House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation that will drastically and negatively change immigration law. The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, H.R. 4437, calls for a number of anti-immigrant measures to be implemented. These measures will prevent millions of hardworking undocumented immigrants from ever realizing the American dream, and instead will push them further underground into a huge underclass of people whose mere existence within the country will be considered criminal. The harsh provisions of this bill will not only harm our families and communities socially and economically, but will also erode due process, weaken judicial review, and offend our most basic notions of fairness and justice. Our immigration system is indeed in need of reform, but H.R. 4437 does not offer real solutions to the problems. Making it a crime to provide assistance to an illegal immigrant is intolerable. Comprehensive immigration reform can and must only take place in the context of constructive debate and not punitive action. While it is vital to establish programs that protect our borders, enforcement only will not fix our broken immigration system. The correct and rational answer to our immigration problems must include a path to legalization for current and future workers and the means to reunify families. Congress needs to consider alternative proposals that will not only keep us all safe by securing our borders but will also provide a workable plan to help the estimated 12 million undocumented workers living in the United States. At this time, several guest worker bills have been proposed in the U.S. Senate and are making their way through the Judiciary Committee. We will keep a watchful eye on any guest worker legislation that is coupled with border security measures like those contained in H.R. 4437. I strongly urge you to contact members of the United States Senate to voice your opposition to this legislation. The time to act is NOW!
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Major Provisions of H.R. 4437: |
“Help Defeat H.R. 4437 in the U.S. Senate” |
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