S. 744 Markup: Monday, May 20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2013

CONTACT
Adela de la Torre, 213-400-7822, [email protected]

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Senate Judiciary Committee Tackles Controversial Amendments

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee entered its final week of markup on S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. Today the committee discussed and voted on amendments to Title III , which would affect immigration enforcement and labor policies. Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, who attended today’s markup:

“Senator Leahy said it best: What this committee does on immigration law reflects who we are as a country and as a people. Some of today’s votes are an accurate reflection of our society’s needs — dangerous amendments that would have made life much more difficult for working families were rejected, and an amendment to increase protections for children and parents in detention was accepted.

“However, today’s votes also demonstrated that the road to citizenship must be fiercely protected, and not just by the Gang of 8.  Senators Sessions and Grassley offered a number of amendments that would push working families already teetering at the poverty line into destitution and would severely impact U.S. citizen children. Although the senators’ misguided efforts were thwarted today, they could come back later in the legislative process. We hope the bill’s champions — on both sides of the aisle — will stand with this country’s values and needs and oppose any effort to make an already difficult road to citizenship impassible.”

# # #