Mayors Send Open Letter to Presidential Candidates Urging Immigration Reform
A national coalition of mayors, Cities for Action, sent an open letter on July 26, 2016, to “the next President of the United States” calling for immigration reform. The letter urges leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties to commit to supporting immigration reform in the first 100 days of the next presidency, including providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
The letter calls for reform that creates a “broad, humane and timely” path to citizenship; supports local economic growth “while protecting the rights and labor standards of all workers”; upholds “immigrants’ due process rights and the rights of those seeking refuge”; and offers “robust local implementation and immigrant integration support.”
The letter also calls on the presidential candidates “to pledge to defend and expand President Obama’s executive actions on immigration” to offer temporary relief to undocumented immigrants “with deep community ties who are not priorities for enforcement.” The letter also asks for a commitment to investments in English classes and legal assistance, municipal ID programs, immigrant entrepreneurial support and language access. “[W]e are ever-deepening our commitment to fostering immigrant-friendly municipalities,” the letter states. “We recognize that the well-being of immigrants impacts the well-being of all.”
The letter was signed by almost 60 mayors and others, including mayors from Baltimore; Boston; Buffalo; Chicago; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New York City; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington, DC.
