Thursday, October 10, 2024

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Reaffirms Administration’s Commitment to Comprehensive Immigration Reform

La Plaza is reporting from the NALEO conference in Denver.

Even a “bitterly partisan” Congress will not deter Obama’s administration from working to pass comprehensive immigration reform Secretary Napolitano told attendees at the annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Denver, Colorado.

“It is a bitterly divided Congress right now, bitterly partisan,” Napolitano said.

Republicans accuse the administration of trying to forcibly push through comprehensive immigration reform at the expense of border security, but Obama’s Southwest Border Initiative has actually more than doubled the number of Border Patrol agents to 20,000 in the last six years.

“We have seized more drugs, more cash and more guns at the border than at any time in our nation’s history,” Napolitano said.

Hispanics overwhelmingly voted for Obama in 2008 and in the wake of the recent anti-immigrant legislation passed in Arizona, the issue of immigration has once again risen to the top of the national debate.  The Obama Administration has directed the Department of Justice to review the law for possible federal law violations. 

Denver Post