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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Obama yesterday pledged to send up to
1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. The president
also will seek $500 million to maintain elevated levels of
militarization in the region. Below is a statement from Tyler Moran,
policy director for the National Immigration Law Center:
"After speaking with Republicans yesterday about the need to work
together on comprehensive immigration reform, President Obama then
played into the Republican's 'border first' strategy by announcing that
his administration will deploy the National Guard to the border. Not
only will this do nothing to fix our broken immigration system, but it
will continue adding millions of dollars to the tab that taxpayers will
be left to pay despite ample evidence that more militarization of the
border is not what is needed. The president's latest political move will
only serve to exacerbate the attack that immigrant communities are
feeling in border states like Arizona.
"The Obama administration has enforcement backwards. We don't need the
kind of immigration enforcement that portrays immigrants as criminals
and only serves to inflict fear upon immigrant communities, whether on
the border or in our cities. By sending the National Guard to the
U.S.-Mexico border, President Obama threatens to turn states such as
California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas into military zones, while
communities within our borders continue to suffer the effects of the
myriad programs that use local law enforcement to criminalize
undocumented immigrants.
"'Border first' has become 'border militarization only,' and it has
encouraged the current entanglement of immigration authorities with
local law enforcement that marginalizes immigrant communities and makes
us all less safe. The president should instead take leadership by
denouncing and ending programs that criminalize not just immigrants but
also anyone who looks or sounds foreign. One welcome first step would be
to end the failed 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement to
enforce immigration law and to involve themselves in other federal
programs that have been demonstrated time and again to result in racial
profiling and other violations. Prioritizing the enforcement of civil
rights and labor laws will restore much-needed balance and fairness to a
system that has for too long lacked both these qualities."
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