Last week, members of the New York Congressional delegation joined elected officials and community leaders to support federal action on comprehensive immigration reform.
At a Thanksgiving event that recognized New York's history, speaker upon speaker praised local immigrants' many contributions to the city and country and advocated for immediate progress on immigration reform legislation.
The event, co-hosted by the American Jewish Committee, the New York Immigration Coalition and the New York State Interfaith Network for Immigration Reform, at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan, comes at a time when comprehensive immigration reform is gaining momentum. The evening celebrated both the contributors of immigrant religious and community leaders and those of elected officials who are pursuing comprehensive reform in this direction.
"Our country is at a watershed moment," said Diane Steinman, AJC-New York executive director and co-chair of the New York State Interfaith Network for Immigration Reform, who introduced the program. "It is up to all of us to reform the laws which cruelly victimize immigrants, and to welcome and honor the strangers among us."
"New Yorkers stand proudly with the majority of Americans in their support of comprehensive immigration reform," said U.S. Congressman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY-District15). "Too many families are being kept apart by the hypocrisy of a system that encourages people to come and work, then tries to criminalize them when they want to stay. We have an obligation – a moral obligation – to see that these laws are changed."
Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY-District 11), the daughter of Jamaican immigrant parents, told the crowd that the current set of immigration laws must change now.
"Our immigration laws are inconsistent and inefficient and place an undue burden on native-born Americans, documented immigrants, and undocumented immigrants alike," said Clarke. "This system is ineffective and unsustainable. When we turn our back on those who come to these shores to become Americans, to be a part of building our great nation, and to embrace the American Dream, we are turning our back on ourselves. We must never forget that this debate is critical to improving the lives of all American citizens, American businesses, and the lives of those who seek to be Americans."
Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY-District 9) and several local elected officials, including Councilmembers-elect Margaret Chin (D-Chinatown/District 1) and Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Washington Heights/District 10), and the N.Y.C. Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Fatima Shama also joined the call for reform.
The event also served to launch a new national holiday postcard campaign to rally support for comprehensive immigration reform and encourage Congress to pass the immigration reform legislation in early 2010.
