Senate Dems Introduce Practical Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2011

CONTACT
Adela de la Torre, NILC, (213) 674-2832

A Sensible Plan: Senate Democrats Introduce Practical Legislation to Produce Jobs, Protect Our Workforce, and Increase American Prosperity

WASHINGTON, DC — Along with five cosponsors, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011 (S.1258). The legislation, which would offer a comprehensive solution to fix our broken immigration system and foster economic recovery, is the first bill of its kind in the 112th Congress. Below is a statement from Tyler Moran, policy director of the National Immigration Law Center:

“By incorporating proposals championed by Republicans and Democrats alike, Sen. Menendez and his colleagues today have laid out a plan to effectively fix our broken immigration system without stalling our economy or ripping our communities apart. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act not only would fix a system that has for too long been out of whack with America’s economic and societal needs, but it recognizes that, in the absence of a legal workforce, forcing employers to verify the employment authorization of their workers by using E-Verify would undermine our economy and cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

“Their effort stands in stark contrast with the mass-deportation and anti-worker agenda espoused by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and his colleagues, who seem willing to risk our economic recovery and drive unemployment rates to unprecedented levels to score politics points. We hope colleagues will join Sen. Menendez, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) to support this workable solution to fix a system that has for too long been held hostage to partisan politics.”

The text of the bill is available fromhttp://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php. The bill number is S.1258.
# # #