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U.S.
Senator Member: Agriculture, Energy, Veterans' Affairs, Ethics and Aging Committees |
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For Immediate
Release September 26, 2006 |
CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Comm. Director 303-455-7600 Andrew Nannis – Press Secretary 202-224-5852 |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar joined a bipartisan group of Senators and religious leaders today to urge Congressional Leaders to address the complex immigration issue currently before them in a comprehensive manner and not with a piecemeal approach. Senator Salazar joined Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) along with a diverse group of religious leaders. “Congress has a remarkable opportunity to deliver comprehensive immigration reform to the nation,” said Senator Salazar. “We need to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws and address the economic and human reality of the millions of undocumented workers currently in America in a comprehensive manner. Increased border security – including additional fencing along the Mexican border – is already a key component of the Senate’s bill. This complex problem will be solved by comprehensive reform, not politically motivated piecemeal bills. “The Republican leadership is playing politics with our border security in an attempt to score points in November. I agree with DHS Secretary Chertoff, Attorney General Gonzales, and President Bush who have all stated that a fence alone is not the answer to this complex problem. I also agree with my Republican colleagues that the best way to address this highly contentious issue is after the November election so cooler heads can prevail and our national security can be protected.” The bill currently being debated in the Senate, H.R. 6061, would build several hundred miles of fence along the southern U.S. border. Earlier this summer, a bipartisan majority passed comprehensive immigration reform out of the Senate – which included 370 miles of fence – but House Republicans are holding that bill up from being addressed by Congress. The religious leaders joining the bipartisan Senators today were: Dr. Derrick Harkin, Pastor of the historic Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, the oldest African American church in Washington, DC; Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; and Most Reverend Jaime Soto, Bishop of Orange, CA, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Member, Catholic Legal Immigration Network. # # #
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