President Obama Takes Action on Immigration Reform
Washington, D.C.| www.adc.org | November 20, 2014 – Just a few moments ago President Barack Obama announced the Immigration Accountability Executive
Actions, a historic step aimed at fixing the country's broken immigration system. However, this is only the first step
in the process of immigration reform. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) calls on the Obama
administration and Congress to reaffirm commitment to statutory reform of immigration laws. ADC calls for a national
immigration strategy that fully protects the dignity and human rights of all people in the enforcement of our
immigration laws.
According to a statement from the White House, "These executive actions crack down on illegal immigration at the border,
prioritize deporting felons not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criinal background check
and pay their fair share of taxes as they register to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation." Over
the past few years, the current administration has greatly expanded detentions and deportations. Half of those detained
and deported have no criminal record, many have only minor offenses, and tens of thousands have children with U.S.
citizenship. The executive actions taken by President Obama will bring temporary relief to millions of individuals who
are in removal proceedings. The relief will extend to both adults and children who are facing deportation from the U.S.
As a member of the Leadership Conference, ADC and partner organizations call on Congress and the administration to adopt
an immigration policy that ensures dignity to immigrant families and eliminates abusive enforcement and border policies.
Measures must also be adopted to eliminate immigration policies that will result in racial profiling of immigrant
communities, and abandon the inherently flawed 287(g) and “Secure Communities” programs. The new immigration policy must
also ensure that prosecutorial discretion – the use of good judgment and common sense – is being applied in all
immigration enforcement operations, and eliminate the excesses and abuses in immigration detention policies.
ADC President Samer Khalaf states, “The president did the right thing tonight; however, it should have happened earlier.
Over the past decade, the majority country has supported immigration reform, all the while our elected officials have
politicized the issue. During this time period, millions of individuals have been deported, which means thousands of
families have been torn apart because of a broken process. The president's measures tonight send a strong message to
Congress – the time to get this done is now.”
ADC will continue to advocate for immigration reform. If you, or a family member, have questions about the executive
actions announced by President Obama, please call the ADC Legal Department at 202-244-2990 for more information. You can also send an email to legal@adc.org.
ENDS