Lambda Legal Calls on Congress to Do the Right Thing and Reject Flawed, Piecemeal Approach to Immigration Reform

(Washington, DC – August 1, 2014) – Lambda Legal called on members of Congress to turn away from the fatally flawed, piecemeal approach to immigration reform of bills like H.R. 5230, widely criticized for purporting to promote border security instead of addressing the humanitarian needs of immigrant youth on the border. Elements of a possible revised bill reported in the news potentially could further weaken due process safeguards for asylum seekers and critical programs that protect children and other especially vulnerable immigrants, including such programs as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Jennifer C. Pizer, Lambda Legal Senior Counsel and Director, Law and Policy Project, issued the following statement:

“We need real immigration reform that provides fairness and dignity to all immigrants including LGBT immigrants and their families – not last-minute, stop-gap bills and competing political gambits that further jeopardize our essential asylum protections and the critically important ‘Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals’ (DACA) program. We call on the President and Congress to act quickly to do the right thing,  protect vulnerable children, protect LGBT immigrants and their families, improve the appalling detention conditions in which too many immigrants are held, provide legal processes that comply with basic standards, and create the pathway to citizenship that is an essential element for any principled, workable solution to our nation’s immigration crisis.”

President Obama initially requested $3.7 billion to address the humanitarian needs of immigrant children and youth along the southern border of the United States. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have proposed competing bills that may be acted on before legislators leave for the August recess.

En español.