Fixing our Broken Immigration System

A Summary of Our Case for CIR

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IMMIGRATION

NDN has a history fighting for immigration reform.  NDN has demonstrated its commitment to achieving a sensible immigration system, in part, by spending the most resources of any organization - prior to the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign - on a Spanish-language radio and television media campaign designed specifically to counter anti-immigrant campaigns.  Similarly, as a cornerstone of NDN's Hispanic Programs, NDN has regularly hosted forums with members of both chambers of Congress to discuss proposals to fix our current broken immigration system. 

Through its leading research and polling - conducted most recently among all voters in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico - NDN has found that a majority of Americans support an earned path to citizenship for the undocumented.   Most Americans believe the immigration system is broken, and want it fixed, but in 2007 the anti-immigrant groups were louder than the majority that supports reform, and so the majority was shouted down by the anti-immigration reform crowd.  In addition, polling data gathered by NDN and others demonstrate that voters for the most part blame the government - not immigrants - for inaction in the area of immigration.

Immigration is not going away as an issue.  From observing the Presidential campaign in 2008 and watching the news every evening, it is clear America will be debating this issue intensely in 2009.  In 2008, the Democratic Party endorsed the elements of comprehensive immigration reform, as has President Obama in his governing agenda.  This means that policy makers and candidates will have to be prepared to engage, and NDN has been a leader in developing the main arguments to achieve immigration reform.  We believe that the right position morally, politically and legislatively is to be for comprehensive immigration reform, and to be for solving the problem rather than perpetuating it through policies such as "enforcement-only."

The comprehensive immigration reform position has always led with security.  The formula is a simple one - to: 1) toughen up enforcement on the border and in the workplace; 2) deal with future flow; 3) deal with the current backlog in the immigration application process, 4) legalize the undocumented.  This proposal is not amnesty, as it calls for all the undocumented to pay a fine, go the back of the immigration line and learn English.

Given the deep support for immigration reform in non-traditional places - former Republican Presidents, Senators from both sides of the aisle, the faith community, labor, Chambers of Commerce - it is possible for this Administration and Congress to achieve the progress the country so desperately needs in the area of immigration through comprehensive immigration reform.