Becerra Applauds President Obama's Continued Efforts to Fix Our Broken Immigration System

Statement

Today officials in President Obama's administration announced a notice of intent in the Federal Register outlining its plan to reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from their spouses and children under certain circumstances while those family members go through the process of becoming legal immigrants to the United States. Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and Member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released the following statement applauding the administration for its continuted efforts to fix our broken immigration system:

"Americans in every corner of our country know that our immigration system is badly broken. And President Obama is right -- we can't wait for Republicans in Congress to stop playing this nasty game of politics, blocking immigration reform legislation, which is tearing families and America apart. The President deserves credit for setting in place another essential building block through administrative action -- moving us closer to a common sense immigration policy -- that puts America, its families and its economy first."

"Caution! If you think the Obama Administration's proposed immigration policy pertaining to family visas applies to you, DO NOT go out and spend your hard-earned money seeking legal or advocacy services unnecessarily. Don't let the defrauders steal your money! Stay tuned for further information."

Today's announcement builds upon other actions taken by the Obama administration to fix our broken immigration system, including:

June 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton issued a memo providing discretion to immigration authorities to place higher priority on cases with individuals with a criminal record and a lower priority on people with no criminal record and young people.
October 2011, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a systematic review of the approximately 300,000 pending deportation cases, focusing the agency's resources on "high priority" cases involving criminals.
November 2011, the Department of Homeland Security launched a pilot of the administrative review speeding deportations of convicted criminals and halting those of many undocumented immigrants with no criminal record.

Source