Boise, ID—The latest move by Republican Congressman Raul Labrador to resign from participation with the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” House group working on immigration reform is a setback for the country. The Congressman’s move is not just walk-out on his colleagues and his responsibilities as a legislator – he’s walked out on America’s families and the urgent needs of our economy. Compromises are part of the work in Washington and it’s regrettable that Congressman Labrador has chosen to make an ideological political statement instead of forging ahead with a bi-partisan compromise being worked out by his colleagues.
“Rep. Raul Labrador has basically taken his ball and gone home. He doesn’t want to be a team player anymore,” said Cristina McNeil with the Idaho Main Street Alliance, a member of the Coalition for Immigrant Rights of Idaho. “Now he has gone back to his way of playing partisan politics.”
The Congressman’s objection to healthcare for new immigrants is based on his personal and ideological believe that “health care is a personal responsibility,” yet aspiring Americans who will be put on a roadmap to citizenship, currently pay taxes and will continue to pay taxes as workers and should rightly be covered by a healthcare plan similar to all Americans. The congressional health care overhaul debate is over and now it’s time to move forward with overhauling our broken immigration system in a manner that is consistent with our American values of opportunity and fairness.
“Instead of working to help immigrant families, some Republicans, like Labrador, are working to deny families a roadmap to citizenship that would improve their health. It’s truly deplorable than anyone would work so vigorously to directly put immigrant families in jeopardy” said Monica Salazar, a member of the Coalition for Immigrant Rights of Idaho.
A report released on Wednesday of this week by Human Impact Partners found strong evidence that the children of undocumented immigrants are harmed by current detention and deportation policies, and that immigration reform that prioritizes keeping families together will have far-reaching benefits for these children and our society.
The study showed that without reforms that create a clear path to citizenship, each year hundreds of thousands of children of undocumented immigrants will suffer poorer physical and mental health, lower educational achievement, and increased poverty and hunger. The study found that this year, if detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants continue at the same rate as in 2012: • More than 43,000 children will suffer a decline in physical health. • An estimated 100,000 children will show signs of withdrawal or detachment, a behavioral problem that like aggression and anxiety leads to poor school performance. • Median household income for undocumented immigrant households nationwide will fall below the poverty line. More than 83,000 households will be at risk of poverty.
The need to reform the broken immigration system this year is critical. An estimated 4.5 million children of undocumented immigrants are U.S. citizens, but live in families where one or more of their parents or guardians are not. In Idaho, 85.8% of children with immigrant parents were U.S. citizens in 2009, according to data from the Urban Institute.
Furthermore, a recent report in NBC Latino, Idaho’s Latino population is young and growing with nearly half of them under 19 years old. Idaho’s Hispanic population now shares over 11 percents of the state’s population and growing at a faster rate than the White non-immigrant population. Congressman Labrador should be mindful that with all those young Latinos able to vote in the near future, they will remember the day he took his ball home and refused to be a team player in restoring justice to the broken immigration system.
“The Congressman needs to remember that only bipartisan solution can resolve the broken immigration system that puts the lives and health of immigrants in jeopardy.” Said Monica Salazar.
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The Coalition for Immigrant Rights of Idaho is supported by the Idaho Community Action Network, ACLU of Idaho, Community Council of Idaho, Salazar Law, Main Street Alliance of Idaho and individual community members.