During an April 24 address to the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that “creating a pathway to earned citizenship” is a critical element of any comprehensive immigration reform plan.
He added that establishing legal status for the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants is a “matter of civil and human rights.”
“Creating a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in this country is essential,” Holder said to applause. “The way we treat our friends and neighbors who are undocumented, by creating a mechanism for them to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows, transcends the issue of immigration status.”
“This is a matter of civil and human rights,” Holder continued. “It is about who we are as a nation. And it goes to the core of our treasured American principle of equal opportunity.”
Holder said that the reform proposals under consideration in the Congress are “consistent with these basic principles.”
Watch the clip below via C-SPAN:
Source: Mediaite
