FOR RELEASE: January 28, 2013                                                        CONTACT:  Stephanie Niedringhaus, 202-347-9797 x224, sniedringhaus@networklobby.org

Washington DC:  During a press conference today, Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, joined other civil rights and immigration reform leaders in praising the speed and intensity with which the administration and Senate are addressing the crisis of a broken immigration system in our country.

Sister Campbell stated, “NETWORK and our interfaith partners rejoice that finally commonsense immigration reform is getting desperately needed attention. It is time that we create a workable system of admission to our country and a path to citizenship for all of those here without documents who have been supporting our nation in the most menial jobs. In order to have families united and grow our economy, Congress needs to act to reform the system that everyone says is broken. Enough empty promises… our nation needs and deserves a policy that respects the dignity of each individual. ‘We the People’ expect Congress to do their job and fix this broken system now.”

NETWORK has a long history of working on comprehensive reform, and, although the details have not yet been released, we are encouraged that a pathway to citizenship seems to be part of the current plan. We look forward to hearing more information about the specific proposals from President Obama and congressional leaders, and we intend to mobilize our many thousands of members and supporters in the effort to pass long-overdue, commonsense reform legislation as soon as possible.

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