Raul Grijalva:Border security cannot be separated from the need for comprehensive immigration reform

[pampango]

A sane immigration and citizenship system needs to accompany smartly targeted law enforcement measures — merely spending billions of dollars on fences is no kind of ’safety’ policy," said Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ/Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus)."

http://www.immigrationforum.org/press/release-display/border-leaders-provide-road-map-for-real-effective-border-security/

"In recent years, the federal government has dedicated unprecedented resources to the Mexican border in terms of manpower, technology and infrastructure—and progress has been made to secure our border. However, without fixing the immigration system, more resources on the border bring diminishing returns."

"We can’t just build walls around a broken system – we need to fix it.” said John David Franz, Mayor of Hidalgo Texas. “That means a comprehensive solution that fixes our nation’s immigration system, increases border security, and contains critical funding for infrastructure upgrades at our land ports of entry so people who want to enter the country legally may do so in a realistic time frame"."

"“The leaders here today have highlighted what border communities have been saying for years,” said Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum. “We need border security, yes, but that doesn’t solve the whole problem. We also need to establish an immigration system that works to get smart, focused security."