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National Immigration Score Card Shows House GOP Leadership Failure

May 28, 2014

Contact: Paloma Zuleta
202-833-6130
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Washington, D.C. — The immigration reform stalemate on Capitol Hill, caused by the GOP leaders’ inaction on the issue, is bringing down score card ratings of House members in the 2014 National Immigration Score Card issued Wednesday by national Latino groups.

The preliminary score card ratings for all 435 House members were disclosed during a telephonic press conference by leaders of the Hispanic Federation, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) and Voto Latino. Each of these organizations is active in civic engagement campaigns that include citizenship drives, voter registration and mobilization and immigration advocacy. House members also received letters notifying them that they can improve their scores by passing immigration reform with an earned path to citizenship before the final 2014 National Immigration Score Card is issued in July and delivered to Latino communities and interested parties across the U.S. this summer.

The score card ratings to date are based on immigration related House votes that have been taken during 113th Congress. While many members have stated support for commonsense immigration reform with a path to citizenship, the failure of House leaders to call for a floor vote on a comprehensive reform plan has brought down the scores of many members.

“This score card allows Latinos and all Americans to learn more about Congress members’ legislative records on the important issue of immigration reform,” said José Calderón, president of the Hispanic Federation. “It should serve as a wake-up call to those members of Congress who are not helping to advance the cause of just and pragmatic reform. Failure in leadership on immigration will certainly not go unnoticed by our community.”

“Our community is being disproportionately devastated by the broken immigration system that this Congress refuses to fix. This preliminary score card shows that most in Congress are clearly failng us on immigration right now,” said Hector Sanchez, Executive Director of LCLAA. “Latinos can no longer tolerate more excuses on why reform has not passed. There is still an opportunity for the members to improve their standing before our final score card is released in July. I urge all members of the House of Representatives to support immigration reform and urge the House leadership to call for a vote today.”

“In 2016, Latinos will again be an ethnic group which both Republicans and Democrats will aggressively court," said Brent Wilkes, national executive director, LULAC. "It is critical that our community be well versed on which members of Congress fought for immigration reform and which did not. This score card will enable voters to look past election year rhetoric and use this information to enable them to cast an informed vote on candidates related to this issue.”

"The scores of many members would be higher if the GOP leadership, which controls the House, would let the full House take a vote on commonsense immigration reform with a path to citizenship," said Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota. "The score card should remind Congress that our community does not forget those who turn their backs on us, and Congress is sadly mistaken if it thinks it can ignore the Latino community."

“These scores reflect that House Republicans are not only failing the Latino community, but they also suggest that the GOP may never again graduate to the White House,” said Janet Murguia, President and CEO of National Council of La Raza.

“The GOP is on the verge of losing an entire generation of voters – Millennials,” said María Teresa Kumar, President and CEO, Voto Latino. “They forget the same thing happened to Democrats in the 1980s. History is repeating itself, and the GOP must course-correct to avoid the consequences of inaction.”

The Senate was scored at the end of 2013 after passing immigration reform. It’s time for the House to do its job, the leaders said.

The final scores for House members will be based on the following criteria:

For more information, contact:

  • HISPANIC FEDERATION: Joshua Silvia, jsilvia@hispanicfederation.org, 202-641-7186
  • LCLAA: Victor Baten, vbaten@lclaa.org, 202-508-6989
  • LULAC: Paloma Zuleta, pzuleta@lulac.org, 202-812-4477
  • Mi Familia Vota Education Fund: Gebe Martinez, gebem@mifamiliavota.org, 703-731-9505
  • NCLR: Joseph Rendeiro, jrendeiro@nclr.org, 202-776-1566
  • Voto Latino: Jimmy Hernandez, jimmy@votolatino.org, 305-720-0699

Follow us on Twitter: #CIRscores

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The mission of the Hispanic Federation is to empower and advance the Hispanic community. The Hispanic Federation provides grants and services to a broad network of Latino non-profit agencies serving the most vulnerable members of the Hispanic community and advocates nationally with respect to the vital issues of education, health, immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement and the environment. For more information, please visit www.hispanicfederation.org.

The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) is the leading national organization for Latino(a) workers and their families. LCLAA represents the interest of more than 2 million Latino workers in the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), The Change to Win Federation, Independent Unions and all its membership. Visit LCLAA on the web at www.lclaa.org, on Facebook and Twitter.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 900 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC’s programs, services and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit www.LULAC.org.

Mi Familia Vota Education Fund is a national nonprofit organization that unites Latino, immigrant, and allied communities to promote social and economic justice through increased civic participation by promoting citizenship, voter registration, and voter participation. Mi Familia Vota is one of the premiere Latino civic engagement organizations in the country with operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and Texas. Visit online: www.mifamiliavota.org | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube |

National Council of La Raza—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

Voto Latino is a nonpartisan organization that empowers Latino Millennials to claim a better future for themselves and their community. United by the belief that Latino issues are American issues and American issues are Latino issues, Voto Latino is dedicated to bringing new and diverse voices to develop leaders by engaging youth, media, technology and celebrities to promote positive change. To learn more about Voto Latino, visit www.VotoLatino.org. Also engage Voto Latino on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VotoLatino, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VotoLatino, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/VotoLatino, and on Google+ at www.google.com/+VotoLatino.