President Obama’s Executive Action on immigration was scheduled to go into effect today. However, anti-immigration interests have filed a lawsuit, delaying implementation of the policy that would allow 3.7 million undocumented immigrant parents to apply for deportation relief and keep their families from being torn apart.

Our coalition supports a clear and comprehensive pathway to citizenship for America’s immigrant population, and this Executive Action is an important step towards promoting family stability until a bipartisan reform package can be adopted. We are extremely dismayed by the narrow-minded partisan actions that led to a court injunction and are now needlessly undermining the wellbeing of millions of immigrant children and their families.

This agenda of obstruction achieves nothing other than maintaining the status quo, which includes a broken immigration system as harmful to U.S. citizens as it is to undocumented immigrants aspiring to live the American Dream. Failure to pass reform is not only a threat to national security, but is also an invitation for the continued exploitation of undocumented workers that has depressed wage and safety standards and reduced employment opportunities for millions of workers around the country.

Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc. understands that the future of our middle class depends on lifting all communities up together. That is why we continue to support comprehensive immigration reform and have spearheaded an initiative to assist thousands of legal immigrants to apply for U.S. Citizenship. For more information on this program please visit www.WeAreOneNJ.com.

Our coalition understands that by empowering the immigrant community through naturalization efforts and civic education, we can strengthen our democracy and ensure the voices of our communities rise above those of the obstructionists. With your support, we will continue to build a more prosperous New Jersey for all.