Simon at World Affairs 2014: The Human Face of Immigration

 Last week Simon participated in “The Human Face of Immigration” panel hosted by the World Affairs Council in San Francisco with immigration reform activist Jose Antonio Vargas, and Tara Magner of the MacArthur Foundation. In case you missed it, video of their compelling discussion is available here:

 NDN has long asserted that the Administration’s investment in immigration and border enforcement has paid off. In the panel, Simon highlighted that “despite very difficult politics, despite the fact that the cartel violence in Mexico is very real, and is something that we can’t ignore, crime on the US side of the border has plummeted.” Moreover, the two safest cities in the US, San Diego and El Paso, are border cities.

 President Obama has faced harsh criticism recently from immigration reform advocate groups over the deportation of undocumented immigrants. While President Obama inherited much of this enforcement and deportation regime, his Administration has worked to dramatically change the nature of who is being deported. It has enacted prosecutorial discretion, prioritizing convicted criminals and people caught crossing the border over low threats in the interior. Simon said: “[President Obama] deserves much more credit, frankly, than what people are giving him, having taken a very difficult situation and making it far better than it used to be. There is only one way to stop the deportations, and that is by passing comprehensive immigration reform.”

 See this piece on why NDN is optimistic about immigration reform in 2014, and this recent analysis on the Administration’s progress on immigration and border enforcement.