Encouraging USCIS Speech

USCIS Director Delivers Speech on Immigration Reform

Leon Rodriguez gave a speech in Salt Lake City, Utah yesterday, in which he upbraided the immigration system for lacking “justice.” Rodriguez is the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is the benefits wing of the Department of Homeland Security. He delivered his speech to the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, defending President Obama’s executive orders and imploring Congress to improve justice within the immigration regime.

Rodriguez’s critique of the immigration system carries family history. He is the son of Cuban immigrants and his family was split apart as some members migrated from Cuba in the 1960s. Some members of his family were fortunate to escape and begin a new life in the United States. Others were left behind. His larger point, illustrated through his family, was that the immigration framework that governs today was built in the 1960s and “does not reflect our economy, does not reflect our demographics, and does not reflect – above all – our values.”

The executive orders that President Obama announced six months ago included the DAPA and expanded DACA programs. 25 states sued the Department of Justice, refusing to allow the programs to proceed. A federal judge in Texas stayed the orders and the Fifth Circuit listened to oral arguments last month.
Director Rodriguez was very encouraged, despite the current state of dormancy for the programs. He claimed that USCIS is ready to implement the programs once the stay is lifted. He called on opponents of Obama’s executive orders to propose legitimate and workable solutions for immigration reform. The Director called the executive orders the “path to actual reform” and believes only Congress can pass legislation for undocumented immigrants to have a path to citizenship and that would represent real reform.