Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva joined his Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Keith Ellison (D-MN) to urge the White House to act on immigration:
The Congressional Progressive Caucus calls on President Obama to provide comprehensive relief to immigrants residing in our nation through executive action. Expansive and robust action that addresses the economic, family, community and national problems we now face is urgently needed. Republicans in Congress have made it clear they will not engage in a good faith effort to fix our broken immigration system. The president has the legal authority and moral imperative to provide relief for over 7 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the shadows.
Our current deportation system is inhumane and wastes billions of taxpayer dollars. Choices between addressing the needs of millions of aspiring Americans and attempting to satisfy the demands of an uncompromising and entrenched opposition are inevitable. We should stand for what is right for our nation. This memo contains our requests for a new affirmative relief program and an expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The administration should act swiftly and comprehensively. We should not force deserving individuals and families to wait any longer.
But Arizona Gov.-elect Doug Ducey opposes any executive action by the Obama Administration. Today’s statement from Ducey:
We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws. I believe that everyone must be treated with respect, but the first thing Washington needs to do is rebuild our trust, as Americans, by securing the border.
This kind of unilateral action by the administration would be the wrong approach to dealing with our border crisis and I worry it will only make matters worse. I encourage President Obama to work with Congress and border state governors, like myself, to address this issue with a common-sense, step-by-step approach that starts with securing the border. I want to work with the president and our congressional delegation to address this issue, but I’m concerned that this kind of action will make those bipartisan opportunities more difficult and further exacerbate the crisis occurring on our southern border.
This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2014.
As a white male whom voted for this congressman I agree, Obama is not in the predicament Clinton was in his time, he has no worries of a second term, he already has his second term, the mid terms mean little except to the foolish who think they mean much low voter turn out, whom ever is in white house usually loses, so the recent election is nothing new or spectacular, the sensible politicians know this, the tea party lunatics think they win when they lose, think shutting down government and burning down the building while your in it is wisdom!:-) I hope Obama uses his veto pen like a sword and makes the GOP and their flunkies the tea party put their money where their mouths are!
I wish somebody cared about the country as a whole, and not your silly little vindictive agendas.
Democrats have become the party of liars and there is documented proof.
Amnesty is nothing more than an attempt to get new voters.
Isn’t it odd that Republicans didn’t think of it first?
As much of the world recalls and celebrates the razing of the Berlin Wall we might ask ourselves why it was erected: to keep people suffering from poverty and oppressive government from leaving the German Democratic Republic for the freedom and opportunity of the West. Today it is the country where freedom and opportunity are celebrated that has erected walls to keep poor and oppressed folks from escaping to the freedom and opportunity we cherish. We should give more thought to the people who risked their lives, and to those who were killed — some shot in the back — trying to leave poverty and oppression and enter the lands of opportunity and liberty back in the bad old days of Cold War and Berlin Wall. I trust I’m not alone in seeing the similarities between the East Germans, Hungarians, Poles and others of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s and the Mexicans, Hondurans, Nicaraguans and Guatemalans of today. We would have a more secure border than any number of boots on the ground, drones, walls or any other such measures can provide if there were no overwhelming impulse for people to risk their lives to leave those countries and come here…. many to do the jobs we don’t want to do, for wages we tend to scorn.
Work permits would solve that and if the government could be trusted to do something right,…they could regulate the flow to benefit Americans dealing with unemployment. Nothing I have heard addresses the criminal/drug cartel element that has become prevalent. In ’86 Reagan cut a deal with Democrats for amnesty and the linchpin was border security. They lied.
At least this time they are not lying about that They want to eliminate borders altogether.
The US will be the big loser, and some Americans have once again let emotions rule their thinking when it should have been based on factual evidence.
What a slap in the face to those waiting patiently to come here.
Criminal first? Wait until you see what activism comes right behind that.
What’s INHUMANE Mr. GRIJALVA, is family members who put their family at risk by unlawfully entering the US, having children out of wedlock, working off the books, not paying taxes, insurance or health care, despite having babies and then ignoring US laws when found after committing all these violations fighting a deportation, which is the law. You even deplore the deportation of people who’ve committed felonies, which is what most of US deportations are. That Mr. Grijalva is inhumane and abusive toward law abiding US citizens.
As the son of illegal immigrants, Mr. Grijalva can be forgiven if he rarely seems to understand our Constitutional system.
Congress makes laws, the President enforces them. Just because Congress has refused to pass a horrid “comprehensive immigration law” that would more than double already stratospheric immigration rates, doesn’t mean the President suddenly gains the power to change the country’s immigration laws.
Grijalva should act as an American, not a Mexican.
If he does it assures that a Repubian will be the next president and he can simply undecree it and you anti-American sleaze bags can go crawl into the hole of obscurity.
Being a criminal has it’s perks, just come to the U.S illegally, work illegally and send all your money back to your country and live off the tax payer. while the U.S. citizen can’t find a job because all the illegals have them, now the great Obama will with a swipe of a pen give all illegals free path of citizenship for breaking the laws of the land, all the perks for being a criminal.
SWITFLY?
Really? How did Mr Grijalva pronounce it?
Yeah I’ll bet Grijalva is in a hurry to get that Amnesty passed. He was given a lg. chunk of $ from the Sinaloan Cartel to get that passed last January and has been sweating every knock at his door since it didn’t happen then. I wonder how much of it that he had to give to Obama to convince him to get er’ done??? These Democrats are all alike. Traitors to America and to the citizens that they represent.
Why in the world should we allow illegals to become citizens? What good will that do the everyday American citizen…? Anyone? Anyone? Pandering to people who aren’t even allowed to be here and aren’t even a citizen makes zero sense.
What has our country come to? Enforce our laws and this won’t be an issue.
Why are we obligated to house these ILLEGAL people? They already get FREE healthcare at hospitals. What’s next – giving them free food, voting rights, and a EBT card / welfare check?
Obama has destroyed our economy and amnesty for illegals will only make it worse. Everyone is under-employed and can’t afford to live. We must now purchase health insurance we cannot afford and do not want or need (mine is $450/month… contrast this to my $25/month auto insurance from Insurance Panda… or my $15/month renters insurance from Eagle… both private-enterprise!). Imagine what will happen when we have to subsidize the insurance for all these illegals….
Illegal aliens show up and all of sudden the govt. can bend over backwards to support them.
Grijlvai is a back stabber and a socialist ass, he and Obummer does not deserve to be in politics nor in any office. Grijilva needs to go back south across the border and stay there and Obummer needs to go back to Kenya Africa along with his whole damn family and stay there. Don’t need either one.
I have been trying to figure out where McSally got all her votes, since I know not a single person who would admit to voting for her. But here, Tucson Weekly readers seem to be her base. What a surprise! So, if she wins, will TW get the blame?