ACLU Says INS Restructuring Insufficient; Calls for Change in Basic Laws
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today said that a proposed restructuring of the Immigration and Naturalization Service would, without a change in basic immigration laws, be inadequate to fix the troubled agency.
“Many of the high-profile mistakes and injustices for which INS is blamed come not from its administrative structure but from the unfair, short-sighted and overly harsh laws Congress has required it to enforce,” said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. “Changes in these laws must be the common sense and compassionate part of any immigration overhaul.”
Edgar’s specific concerns were contained in a letter, co-signed by a coalition of immigrant and human rights groups and sent today to Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and to the Committee’s Ranking Member, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).
In the letter, the coalition calls for the return of basic fairness and due process to American immigration law though passage of sensible, bipartisan and common-sense reform legislation currently pending in Congress. These efforts need to address three system-wide problems, Edgar said:
“Immigration laws in America have for too long been out-of-line with this country’s compassionate sensibilities,” Edgar said. “Passage of these common sense reforms would inject fairness and real due process into a sickly system.”
The Letter can be found at:
/node/20792
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