Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Announces Mayoral Coalition to File Amicus Brief in Support of President Obama's Executive Action on Immigration Reform

January 23, 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio: It is a real honor to be here with my colleagues and to announce that more than 30 mayors from all over the country are joining forces to fight together for the immigration reform we so desperately need for this whole country, but particularly for the people of our cities. We are together filing a joint amicus brief in the U.S. District Court in Texas in support of the president's executive action on immigration.

A lot of mayors around me from all over the country, from all regions – I'm going to name a few who are here or will be here, and then others you're going to hear from in just a moment, but – and I'm not going to be able to name everyone, because some have joined us, but a real cross-section of the country here, including Mayor Peduto of Pittsburgh, Mayor Hales of Portland, Oregon, Mayor Slay of St. Louis, Mayor Hodges of Minneapolis. Again, you'll hear from some of my colleagues in just a moment.

The president's plan has the potential to grant support and relief to nearly five million of our fellow Americans who happen to be undocumented immigrants. And that will make a transcendent impact on these individuals and their families, who are our constituents, and who play a crucial role in our cities, in our economy and the lives of our cities. Of course, we see a backlash against this reform. And a lawsuit, as I mentioned, has been filed to derail it. We believe we have a moral obligation to act to answer this lawsuit with the voices of the grassroots all over this country, with the voices of the people we represent, because we know that in our cities are a huge percentage of the almost 12 million people who are not yet documented, but are still our constituents who we honor and respect. The cities are in the frontline of this issue. And we know what the impact of all these individuals' participation in our economy and our cities is. And we know it's our obligation to find ways to appreciate and respect their hard work, how they have helped to build our cities and our nation. We think the executive action by the president is an important step.

Now, I hasten to add – we believe in the need for a fully comprehensive immigration reform passed by the Congress, but until that day, the president's executive action moves us forward, and it's a call to arms. So many of many colleagues have been working so hard, our staffs have been working so hard to prepare to implement the executive action locally. One of the mayors who couldn't be here but has been in the forefront of this effort is the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti – I'd like to thank him for his good work.

And it's not just mayors who are standing up in favor of the president's executive action. There's 12 states and the District of Columbia have filed amicus briefs, and 27 law enforcement officials from around the country have filed amicus briefs as well. But we believe the voices of cities are particularly crucial here, have not been heard enough in this debate up to now. We want to change that because we believe this country will be stronger when it's more inclusive and more fair to all.

We gathered in New York in December. We put together a plan of action. Many of us – and a lot who couldn't be there – have been participating since to create a war-room approach, in which we are going to coordinate actions all over the country. We're going to have a National Day of Action in favor of immigration reform and the executive action. We're going to have a lobby day on Capitol Hill with mayors from around the country. We intend to make the voices of cities heard in the immigration debate. We know that delay means that families are not served. That's why we want to stand in the way of this lawsuit that we know would undermine the needs of families in our cities.

So, just a couple of words in Spanish, then I'm going to turn to some of my colleagues.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, I want to turn to a mayor who really has been one of the leaders nationally in terms of innovating what cities can do to serve their immigrants in all sorts of creative ways, even while we wait for national action – Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco.

[Applause]

[Mayor Ed Lee speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: Thank you. Mayor Annise Parker of Houston has created a thriving economy and an inclusive economy, and I think has given us a great example of what it means to get all communities involved in prosperity together. Mayor Parker –

[Applause]

[Mayor Parker speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: Now, Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia was going to speak at this point, and he is just finishing another panel, so he'll join us in just a moment. Let me move ahead to a mayor who's really done a lot for immigrants and refugees in his city – an incredibly diverse city – Mayor Ed Murray of Seattle.

[Applause]

[Mayor Ed Murray speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: And a great, passionate national voice on this issue has been Mayor Pedro Segarra of Hartford, Connecticut. He has just been selected as the co-chair of the Conference of Mayors Immigration Reform Task Force. Mayor Segarra – he will favor you in two languages.

[Applause]

[Mayor Pedro Segarra speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: Now, a really extraordinary story is what has happened in the state of Utah on these issues. One of the leading voices has been Mayor Ralph Becker, the mayor of Salt Lake City. He is also the president of the National League of Cities, and I think he's been one of the great conveners of people of different parties, different views, creating some real consensus around the need for immigration reform. Mayor Becker –

[Applause]

[Mayor Ralph Becker speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: Lastly, a man who I think – I think some people actually are living legends, and Tom Cochran qualifies – for decades, a leading voice on behalf of the cities of this country, and now, of course, CEO and Executive Director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Tom Cochran –

[Applause]

[Tom Cochran speaks]

[Applause]

Mayor: All right, we welcome your questions on this topic. Yes –

Question: Mayor de Blasio, many activists say that the lawsuit in Texas poses a greater danger to the executive action than whatever Congress is doing or not accomplishing right now. What's the political weight that you think this amicus brief brings, considering the weight of 20-something states in this lawsuit? And what do you think is the outlook of this lawsuit right now?

Mayor: I'll give an answer – and, again, I want to welcome any of my colleagues who want to jump in on any of the questions – feel free. I think the simple answer is this – as you heard, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a bipartisan organization, filing an amicus brief as well; the National League of Cities, bipartisan organization, filing a brief; states around the country; law enforcement officials; the mayors you see here representing whole different parts of this country, but united in this view that we have to support the executive action. I think that matters a lot, and I think, if you simply get to the facts, as Mr. Cochran pointed out – the facts are, presidents have used executive actions over generations to achieve valid goals, particularly in the absence of congressional action. This president is no different. Some of the attacks on him are ideological. And we wanted to act as a shield to say we want to respect the right of the president to do what so many other presidents have done when national needs are going unmet. And I think that this will be an important counterbalance to the lawsuit.

Question: Is this a measure of your concern as mayors of the outcome of this lawsuit right now?

Mayor: I think we are confident that the president is in the right, but we also think it's very important to visibly defend that. Anyone else want to add? [inaudible] questions? Please –

Question: Are any of the 30 mayors that you were talking with – are any of them Republican?

Mayor: The group here – none are Republican, some are independents. But again, one of the things we agreed on last month in New York is that we are starting an effort to recruit in Republican mayors who believe as we do. Now, some – Mayor Becker is an expert on this fact – some would be willing to support the executive action. Some might not be willing to support executive action, but would support comprehensive immigration reform. But everyone you see here is going to be talking to our fellow mayors who are Republican to get them involved in this effort. Questions? Have we left you speechless? What a refreshing change!

[Laughter]

Question: [inaudible] how many are independent, how many are Democrat?

Mayor: Okay, those of you who are independents, clarify. Some people are not here right now, who signed on, so some of the people who signed on are not present. So, we will get you the full list. All right – [inaudible] an independent who wants to –

Mayor Nelda Martinez, Corpus Christi, Texas: I'm listening very intently, but I am delighted. Frankly, I'm also from Texas.

Mayor: Come on up.

[Applause]

Mayor Martinez: I'm Nelda Martinez, Mayor of Corpus Christi, Texas. From Texas, obviously, this is critical for us – we're a border town – but also we understand – all of the states, it affects us, because we have inner states that are traveled with many that work each and every day that do not have the legal status. We have to deal with immigration. This has been [inaudible] priority that have come from the public on a nation – the importance of our economy, protecting our families, and also having a path to immigration. Whoever's controlling Congress, I guess it's – incidentally, we just happen to have a Democrat president who finally has had the courage to make the bold move to finally do something that everybody's been talking about across partisan lines – Republican, Democrat, independent – so what we need to do is make sure that our voices are heard. The reason you have so many more of the governors in the states that are Republican – because we know who's controlling Congress right now, but why can't we have the voice of the people control rational decision-making and finally coming to a solution regarding what we all know needs to be solved with immigration? So I thank all of you all for coming here today. We stand strong with our president of the United States – Democrat, independent. And many of you have interviewed many Republicans saying they want Republican – excuse me, they want to have reform in immigration – so you go to them again. Put the executive order [inaudible]. We're here standing behind the bold movement. Put the executive order [inaudible]. So what makes it any different now? Strategically? Politics? Let's deal with the real problem and have real solutions. Thank you.

[Applause]

Mayor: Last call.

Question: Can you – if this lawsuit were to be successful, can you talk to us about anything New York City – and if other mayors want to talk about any specific programs that cities are running to make sure that people get the most out of the president's executive action?

Mayor: Yes. When we gathered – again, I'm going to welcome up any colleagues who haven't spoken and want to jump in – when we gathered in New York last month, the whole concept was talking about how to maximize the impact of this executive action for our cities, because, you can imagine, this is going to reach almost 5 million people if you count the huge impact it's going to have on all the cities represented here. So what our staffs are doing is literally working out how we're going to support people, get them to process their forms, get them in to understand what their rights are and their opportunities are. So that groundwork is being laid right now. We believe the executive action will prevail, so we're assuming that the implementation starts in the next few months. Anyone want to add? Please –

Mayor Charles Hales, Portland, Oregon: I'm Charlie Hales, I'm the mayor of Portland – let me add to that. One of the reasons why this is significant is not this partisan question that – at all – it's that mayors are grounded in the everyday reality and in real-time, and we hear from our citizens. So, one consequence, I think, of the failure of the president's action – if it were reversed – would be that our citizens are going to have to try to ad hoc their way through these difficulties. Let me make that real for you – there's a man in Portland named Francisco Aguirre. Thousands of Portlanders came together to offer him sanctuary in a local church, because he was going to be separated from his family by the lack of a good immigration policy that makes sense in people's lives. I would expect other Portlanders and citizens of all of our communities to figure out improvised solutions to protect their neighbors from the lack of good policy. And we'd rather that our fellow citizens work on more productive things than simply safeguarding in sanctuary people who are productive members of our communities. I think at a real human level, that's what we'll see in the absence of federal policy is the citizens are much more pragmatic and have good hearts on this subject. And I think you'd see both that pragmatism and good-heartedness expressed in ways like we saw in Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland.

[Applause]

Mayor: On your question – another thing that's been very powerful is that all these cities are working together to figure out how we can do this best. And, you know, there's the concept of best practice in government – this is sort of the next level. We are all in a constant dialogue, comparing notes, trying to figure out how we can get this to help the maximum number of people. And the federal government has been very helpful in that. When we met at Gracie Mansion, Secretary Jeh Johnson – the Homeland Security secretary was there, Valerie Jarrett, who I – the president's senior advisor was there. So, the federal government has been very willing to help us figure out how to maximize this for our people, but what's going on now is – we are all constantly communicating about how to get ready to make this real for our residents in the next few months. Yes –

Question: Mayor, [inaudible] report that says that Mexican children have been returned to Mexico within 72 hours without any possibility of going to a judge to explain reasons for them to come, many times escaping from Mexico's violence. Do you think the Mexican children must receive the same treatment that has been given to the Central American children that are trying [inaudible] opportunity here?

Mayor: I'll speak broadly – maybe others – one of my other colleagues wants to jump in. I mean, look, I think for a lot of us, it gets to Mayor Hales's comment a moment ago – we see this in very human terms. I think that's one thing that being a mayor brings out in you in a very deep way. You deal with every kind of people from every kind of background, and our job is to serve all of them – and we are all international cities more and more. So when we had a lot of the unaccompanied children come up from Central America, of course there were some voices that said, well, what will this mean in terms of the costs or the burden on our schools, and what we heard, certainly in New York City, was that – that question was immediately put to rest by so many leaders and so many community residents saying these are our children too. These children were in a violent atmosphere – their lives were threatened – if we can help provide them safe homes, that was a natural thing for us to do. So I think that's true, obviously, for any children facing those threats, particularly, you know, in neighboring countries.

Question: And how do you –

Unknown: Thank you.

Mayor: Hold on, one second – you want to see if anyone wants to add? Feel free –

Question: Okay, and how do you explain the Republican opposition to the immigration reform? Is that philosophical or is it political?

Mayor: I'll only say, from my point of view, again – others may have a different view, but from my point of view, there is more diversity of opinion. I think our colleague from Corpus Christi said it accurately – we have heard very openly Republicans all over the country talk about the need to address this issue. They may not have signed on to the leading vision of comprehensive immigration reform, they may not have signed on to the executive action, but I have to be fair and say there's a lot of people in the Republican Party who are acknowledging the need for action. We believe that getting something started is crucial, and that, in fact, a first step will open the door to a more comprehensive action. So, I believe, over time, you will hear more and more of our Republican colleagues speaking up on this issue.