Immigration Hotline

The Border Line: An Immigration Blog

Immigration re-haul in 2009?

Several Hispanic groups and immigrant advocate organizations said this week that they expect President-elect Barack Obama to push “comprehensive immigration reform” in Congress as soon as this Fall.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, told reporters in a conference call that “2009 will be the year for immigration reform.”

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said he is “quite optimistic” that a bill would pass.

Sharry was heavily involved in negotiations last year on a Senate immigration measure that would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and created a guest worker program. That bill failed in the Senate after strong opposition from conservatives.

The groups said that Obama has shown he is serious about immigration reform by appointing supporters of the concept to key cabinet posts including Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary and Rep. Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary.

Other participants in the conference call included Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.

“The face of America has always had immigrant features and the way we treat immigrants and approach their integration into U.S. society holds important implications for the future progress of the country,” Murguia said. “Reform is not only possible, we as a nation are ready to do it.”

Read more here.

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