US urgently needs immigration reform

Imm ReformThe public debate over the increased surge in immigrant minors coming across the US-Mexico border should spur Congress to finally enact immigration reform, says Human Rights Watch.  The organization yesterday released a multimedia feature in collaboration with Platon/The People’s Portfolio and Time magazine on the issue.

The feature, Torn Apart, includes video interviews with and photographs of immigrants, whose stories of lives lost on the border, constant fear and anxiety and families being torn apart are frequently heart-wrenching and make it clear just how urgent the need is for the US government to finally adopt comprehensive immigration reform.  “The stories of those who yearn to unite with family, to become the newest citizens of the United States, and suffer so much in pursuit of that dream, remind us that immigration is not merely a political or economic issue,” says Human Rights Watch US researcher Grace Meng.  “Immigration reform is needed to protect basic human rights, including rights that have been central to US life and history.”

Human Rights Watch has also issued a new report on immigration issues in the United States, saying that the comprehensive bill passed last year by the Senate would go some considerable way toward fixing the nation’s broken immigration system.

The bill would also cut down on many of the risks faced by undocumented immigrants, as well as the amount of people trying to enter the United States illegally out of desperation.  Human Rights Watch is calling on President Obama to move quickly on fair and humane immigration reform.