Politics & Government

Republicans Pass Alejo's Immigration Resolution

Luis Alejo is pushing for immigration reform and he has the backing of nearly all of the California State Assembly.

Contributed by the Office of Luis Alejo

Monday, Assemblymember Luis Alejo’s, whose district includes Watsonville and Gilroy, had his Assembly Joint Resolution 3, which urges President Barack Obama and Congress to support comprehensive immigration reform, passed the California State Assembly with bipartisan support with a final vote of 62-1, with 9 Republican Assemblymembers supporting.

“Comprehensive immigration reform is the most important civil rights issue of our time. We have a critical opportunity, at this time in our nation’s history, to weigh in and send a strong bipartisan message that California supports Comprehensive Immigration Reform. We are the state with the largest immigrant population and over 2.5 million stand to benefit from this reform,” said Alejo.

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Assemblymember Jeff Gorell (R-Camarillo) said, “The U.S. Congress must work toward a bipartisan solution acknowledging these families and creating a way for them to earn an official, legal stake in America's future, along with the duties and obligations of becoming full taxpayers and citizens. Creating a real pathway to citizenship for undocumented families isn't a handout. It’s a renewal of the historic immigration policies that made America great.”

“Some Asian immigrants have been forced to wait as long as 23 years to be reunited with their families in the United States due to visa backlogs,” said Assemblymember Paul Fong (D-Cupertino), Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. “In fact, of the five countries with the longest backlogs for visas, four are countries in Asia. Our immigration system should be uniting families, not keeping families apart and efforts to address immigration reform must prioritize the unity and sanctity of families.”

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“Today’s vote comes in the midst of a critical week, in which the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee starts the debate over the Border Security, Economic, and Immigration Act of 2013," said Angelica Salas, director of Coilition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "It has been more than six years since the U.S. Senate debated a proposal to fix our broken immigration system. AJR 3 ensures that California's voice is heard in this debate and calls on the federal government to enact a human immigration reform bill with a direct and attainable path to citizenship. We applaud the Assembly for its bi-partisan vote in support of AJR 3." 

What do you make of even Republicans supporting Alejo? Do you support immigration reform? Tell us in the comments!


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