Californians Urged to Continue the Fight for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

In this Democratic weekly radio address Assemblymember Joe Coto, Chair of the Legislative Latino Caucus, talks about the need for comprehensive immigration reform. In the radio address Assembly member Coto says, even though an immigration reform measure stalled recently in the U.S. Senate, the fight for real and fair immigration reform will continue. In the address Coto says, quote, “It is irresponsible and immoral to let our search for the perfect immigration bill get in the way of the passage of a good immigration bill.”

A complete transcript of the radio address in English and Spanish follows.

To listen in English, click here.
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20070713RadioAddressEngl...

To listen in Spanish, click here. http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20070713RadioAddressSpan...

This is Assemblymember Joe Coto, chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus.

As you may have heard, noisy voices on the right and on the left have caused the U.S. Senate to withdraw the most practical immigration bill this country has seen in years.

However, I’m hopeful that there are enough of us who deal more with the reality of immigration than merely the rhetoric of immigration who will stand up to all the noise and provide reasoned voices that can spur Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration bill.

Most reasonable people agree on key components of the immigration bill that stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Few Americans disagree with thoughtfully tightening and securing US borders, efforts which can include added border personnel, electronic surveillance systems, and effective diplomacy with Mexico and other nations.

Second, most of us agree that our economy is dependent on some sort of system for providing seasonal workers, particularly in agriculture. There is also an unmet demand for legalized immigrant labor in the construction, hospitality, and technology fields.