Statement for the Press from May 1st Committee for Immigration Reform

The Fresno May 1st Committee for Immigration Reform hopes that Federal Judge Susan Bolton will make the right decision and effectively nullify the activation of SB 1070 by July 29, 2010 when it is scheduled to be effective. Tomorrow, July 15, Judge Bolton will begin the first of several hearings to discuss the legality and impact of the law. Next week, on July 22, 2010, Judge Bolton will hear United States of America v. Arizona, in which President Obama’s Administration asserts that SB 1070 unconstitutionally pre-empts Federal prerogatives over the enforcement of Immigration law. The May 1st Committee stands firmly behind President Obama’s Administration in the filing of this legal challenge as it understands that local police have no business enforcing federal immigration law.

The law that was signed by Governor Brewer this past 23rd of April polarized the discussion regarding the need for comprehensive immigration reform. The May 1st Committee is firmly opposed to SB 1070 and has asked the Fresno City Council to lead as many other cities have and condemn the law, initiate an economic boycott against Arizona and to call on our Federal government to enact a comprehensive immigration reform that will legalize the families that already reside in the United States without documents as soon as possible.

The SB 1070 law is unconstitutional because it usurps our federal government’s prerogatives and because it’s discriminatory in its promotion of racial profiling. It will not resolve the problem of violence at the border, of drug-trafficking nor of undocumented migration to the United States.

For the May 1st Committee the only solution is comprehensive immigration reform, which unites the families that have been waiting for many years to reunite, one that legalizes the families already residing in the United States, that regularizes the migration of workers in the future through legal means, and that guarantees their labor and human rights and that includes the option of legal residency sometime in the future.

The “Enforcement Only” position being promoted by the Republican Party does not provide a solution to undocumented immigration but enables the continuation of deaths of immigrants at the border who are coming to reunite with their families because of the backlog in the processing of lawful migration and to seek better economic opportunities for their themselves and their families.

Media and Public Relations Committee

Leonel Flores (UNEI), (559) 898-8137
Stan Santos (CWA), (559) 908-6701
Leoncio Vazquez (FIOB), (559) 499-1178
Daniel Luna (MAPA), (559) 313-8243