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#  Now is the Time for Real Immigration Reform: A Full Embrace, not Half a Handshake

January 14 2013

Written by Antonio Villaraigosa.

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![](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/images/stories/Jan-2013/cw11005s.png)SPEECH TO THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB -The sun may be setting on my administration, but I am not riding off into the sunset just yet. The agenda is still packed with challenges. Many pressing issues still demand action. And chief among them is immigration reform.

There are few more fundamental questions that we face.

**Who** we welcome to our shores…

**How** we secure our borders…

**What** we do to include the millions of undocumented men and women who work hard and do the hardest work …

And how we keep them safely together with their five million citizen children.

These questions go straight t the heart of who we are as a people.

At stake are bedrock rights and responsibilities of American democracy.

They fuel strong passions on all sides.

… it is high time we gave clear and consistent answers to these most basic questions.

Now is the time for real immigration reform. [(Read Mayor Villaraigosa’s entire National Press Club speech here.](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/images/stories/misc/CW11-005MayorVillaraigosa_Immigration_Remarks.pdf))

-cw

CityWatch

Vol 11 Issue 5

Pub: Jan 15, 2013

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