90.9 WBUR - Boston's NPR news station
Top Stories:
PLEDGE NOW
Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Immigration Activist ‘Optimistic’ About Reform

Immigration activists hold signs as they protest in front of Freedom Tower in downtown Miami on Monday. (Alan Diaz/AP)

Immigration activists hold signs as they protest in front of Freedom Tower in downtown Miami on Monday. (Alan Diaz/AP)

President Barack Obama will travel to Las Vegas on Tuesday to rally support for his immigration reform plan, which would give undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

On Monday, a bipartisan group of senators announced its own plan for immigration reform. The White House says the president will endorse most of the senators’ ideas, but the president will also outline his differences.

“They’d rather pay the U.S. government… than to pay a smuggler that’s going to abandon them.”
–Enrique Morones

Enrique Morones, president and founder of Border Angels, a group that works to reduce the death toll of people crossing the border into the U.S. from Mexico, told Here & Now that he’s optimistic about the progress being made in Washington.

“I feel that we’re closer than ever,” Morones said. “We’re out in the field, we’re out in the desert, putting [out] water because every day that we don’t have humane immigration reform, two people die.”

Morones wants to know more about what lawmakers mean by further strengthening the borders, but he’s encouraged that the plan would provide a path to citizenship.

“Let’s let them get in line. They’d rather pay the U.S. government some sort of a duty to be able to get in line – even if it’s the back of the line… than to pay a smuggler that’s going to abandon them – killing them while they’re crossing the desert. Let’s set up a system that’s humane, and let’s get the humane into this immigration debate,” he said.

Guest:

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Fulton/100000019043153 Dan Fulton

     Hopefully, immigration reform will allow labor markets to operate freely and fairly and stop the exploitation of immigrant workers and serious market disruptions.
    See this video and check links with video on YouTube. Latino workers are paid below market wages and the tree service industry is devastated. Such a shortage of tree trimmers has been created that military air transport had to move bucket trucks and tree cutters from the West Coast to help cope with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIEmhq9RbxU&feature=share&list=UUnaOH2b8GIfbjMCbvbRRETQ

  • Monicasanchez17

    I agree with Enrique , ALL THE WAY… He’s right- Germans, Poles,Irish ,Italians ALL had their chances. Isnt America supposed to be a melting pot?

  • http://www.facebook.com/victor.torres.522 Victor Torres

    Comprehensive, humane and sane immigration reform is what the US has needed for a long time. Those who have opposed it in the past are welcomed, yet we can’t help wondering why it took so long for them to “self-deport” out of their ignorance and xenophobia. Well done Enrique.

  • Lupe Yarrito

    THIS HUMANE IMMIGRATION REFORM FINALLY IT SHOULD MOVE FORWARD, SO THIS COUNTRY CAN BENEFIT, FROM THE HARD WORKING UNDOCUMENTED PEOPLE DO EVERYDAY, I JUST HOPE IT’S NOT A SLAP IN THE FACE, THIS SYSTEM SHOULD STOP DEPORTATION, AND FAMILIES SEPARATION, AND SHOULD LIVE WITHOUT FEAR.  GOOD ONE PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!

With Sponsorship from:
Accelerating the pace of engineering and science
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Dr. John S. Wilson, Jr. is president of Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Morehouse College)

President Obama delivers the commencement address this weekend at Morehouse College, the all-male historically black college. The school’s president discusses recent controversies and challenges.

1 Comment | more »
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Mark with Houston at Houston's high school graduation in 2009. (Courtesy of Mac McClelland)

Failures in mental health care mean that often the only way to get help for a loved one is to call the police. We speak with a journalist about the tragic consequences for her family.

19 Comments | more »
Thursday, May 16, 2013
"I Drive Your Truck" screenshot.

In 2011, a Nashville songwriter heard Alex Ashlock’s interview with Paul Monti, who lost his son in Afghanistan. It inspired her to write “I Drive Your Truck.”

Comment | more »
From Twitter