Latino Immigrant Community Responds with Optimism to High Level Meeting on Immigration Reform

Press Statement                                                                   June 26, 2009

Contact: Carlos Fernandez, (773) 450-4176 / cfernandez@nalacc.org

Latino Immigrant Community Responds with Optimism to High Level Meeting on Immigration Reform

Chicago, IL. The National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), thanks President Obama for his leadership in convening a meeting with Congressional leaders to begin a process that we hope will soon result in reforming our current unjust and obsolete immigration policy.

NALACC appreciates the President’s efforts to expedite the processing of citizenship and family petitions as well as his Administration’s efforts to make the office of Citizenship and Immigration Services more transparent and customer-friendly. Reducing these long waiting lists is one of NALACC’s aspirations in terms of achieving immigration reform.

NALACC reiterates its call to President Obama to use his executive authority to put an immediate stop to raids and to the cooperative agreements regarding immigration policy between immigration agents and local police departments. These agreements have caused great suffering and terror in immigrant families and communities and they have destabilized local economies.

Lastly, NALACC member organizations will continue working to achieve the kind of immigration reform that reflects the extent to which our immigrant communities have contributed to the well-being and the progress of the United States, and for the kind of immigration reform that transcends the tendency to treat immigrants as threats to this country to be contained with walls at the border as its sole solution. NALACC reiterates our commitment to continue advocating for profound and innovative changes in immigration policy that are in sync with the realities of the 21^st century and with the best traditions of the United States as a beacon of light and hope to people across the world.

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NALACC is a network of immigrant-led organizations working to improve the quality of life in their communities, in the United States, as well as in their countries of origin. Visit us on the web at www.nalacc.org