Obama, Schumer, and Graham Talk Immigration Reform

For the first time since Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) decided last year to collaborate on a bipartisan proposal for immigration reform, President Barack Obama is going to sit down at their table and talk change.

Obama's promise to tackle immigration in his first year in office went unfilled, and he only gave -- how many words was it? -- to the subject in his State of the Union address. Immigrant rights advocates have been less than pleased with Obama's failure to stand behind robust immigration reform. In response, a March FOR America is planned on March 21st, where tens of thousands of supporters are expected to tell the president and members of Congress to get moving. America's Voice points out that polling shows that a majority of Americans support comprehensive immigration reform, and the Latino vote in particular is heavily tied in with taking steps on immigration issues.

We need family-based immigration reform that keep people with their loved ones, including queer immigrants. We need to provide bright young dreamer students who consider America to be their home with an opportunity to remain legally, contributing to the economy and society. We need humane detention practices and alternatives that allow immigrants to return to their lives while awaiting deportation or release, and alleviate the cost to the taxpayer. We need to stop deporting legal resident immigrants for minor offenses, often years after their sentence was served, denying immigration judges any discretion in deporting immigrants who have gone to make a positive contribution to society. And we need immigration reform for the American economy, to reap the benefits of legalization and tackle labor exploitation.

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