Media
National Immigration Forum press releases and statements are issued to provide perspective on key policies, legislative actions, reports, and events. View our latest releases below. For prior year releases, use the navigation buttons at the bottom of this page.
Press Releases
As the President Signs the Fence Bill, We Don’t Know Whether to Laugh or to Cry…
October 26, 2006
Washington, DC – The following is a statement by Frank Sharry, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. We don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. On the one hand, signing this bill is a sorry ending to two years of often serious deliberations. For a time this past spring it seemed as if the President, the Senate, and the American people were moving inexorably towards overhauling our dysfunctional immigration system...
Our Congress Debated Immigration Reform for Two Years, and All We Got Was This Lousy Fence Bill?
October 04, 2006
Washington, DC – The following is a statement by Frank Sharry, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-profit, non-partisan pro-immigration advocacy group. How did we get from there to here? The past two years has witnessed an extraordinary set of developments in the U.S. immigration policy debate. It’s worth recalling some of the high and low lights. Following his re-election, President George W. Bush makes comprehensive immigration reform a top priority for his second...
Immigration Debate Today: House Plays Predictable Politics, While Senate Signals Sensibility
September 21, 2006
Washington, DC – The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Deputy Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-profit, non-partisan pro-immigration advocacy group. In stark contrast to today’s actions by the House of Representatives, Senate leaders in both parties have indicated their intention to reject efforts to attach piecemeal enforcement measures on the pending Homeland Security appropriations bill. From Republican Senators Thad Cochran (MS), Arlen Specter (PA), and Larry Craig...
Fences Won’t Fix The Problem: Piecemeal Reform Will Yield Piecemeal Results
September 14, 2006
Washington, DC – The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Deputy Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-profit, non-partisan pro-immigration advocacy group. Today, the House is expected to debate and pass a bill to construct 700 miles of border fence. The bill was technically introduced yesterday, but it is a bill that has already passed this Congress as part of the controversial House immigration bill (H.R. 4437), which also would make felons out of all undocumented...
Failure to Act; Failure to Lead: House Leaders Fumble Immigration Debate
September 12, 2006
Washington, DC – The following is a statement by Frank Sharry, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-profit, non-partisan pro-immigration advocacy group. With today’s immigration “forum” among House GOP leaders, it is clear that workable border security and immigration reform will have to wait until next year. The GOP in the House has been hijacked by enforcement-only hardliners, who neither make up a majority of the American people, nor even a majority of the Republican...
What Now for the Nation’s Immigration Debate?
July 28, 2006
The following backgrounder was written by Frank Sharry, the Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum. MEMO TO CONGRESS: THE PUBLIC WANTS THEIR LEADERS TO, UM, LEADImmigration is now a top-tier public policy priority for American voters. Americans want action, and they want action this year. And they have made it clear through numerous polls that the kind of action they want combines increased border security, tougher penalties on employers who hire those here illegally, more...
House “Faux” Hearings Reveal Restrictionists Have “No Game”
July 20, 2006
"We could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that would not kill somebody, but it would be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock all the time." -- Rep. Steve King (R-IA), quoted by The Hill, equating the containment of immigrants to that of livestock (7/13/06) Washington, DC – Today, the House of Representatives continues its series of post-passage immigration hearings with a panel in the Education and Workforce Committee. This follows...
House Hearings Reinforce False Choice Facing Country On Border Security
July 07, 2006
Washington, DC – On Wednesday, and continuing today the House of Representatives began a series of field hearings ostensibly to examine issues related to immigration reform. The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Deputy Director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy organization. Members of the House of Representatives seeking delay of immigration reform are framing the debate as a choice between border security or comprehensive immigration reform. The point they...
House Leaders Bow to Immigration Hardliners, Delaying Reform
June 23, 2006
Washington, DC - Earlier this week, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and other key House GOP leaders announced they would hold a series of public hearings across the country to examine Senate-passed immigration and border security legislation. The following is a statement by Angela Kelley, Deputy Director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. The announcement of an immigration hearing road-show is not encouraging. House hardliners...
Senate Immigration Bill Passes
May 25, 2006
Washington, DC – The following is a statement by Frank Sharry, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Today, the U.S. Senate achieved a historic bipartisan breakthrough in the Senate in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. In stark contrast to the unworkable and punitive House bill enacted last December, the Senate bill has the right architecture and the right elements for comprehensive immigration reform. ...
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