For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Washington, D.C. - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today traveled to Denver, Colo., to deliver remarks highlighting the Obama administration's ongoing efforts to work with Congress on ways to comprehensively reform our nation's immigration laws to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Conference - the largest gathering of Latino elected and appointed officials in the nation.
"It's clear to everyone paying attention that our immigration system is broken, and it's also clear that comprehensive immigration reform is critical to solving the problem," said Secretary Napolitano. "This administration has adopted smart, tough and effective strategies to enforce the laws we have in order to lay the groundwork for comprehensive immigration reform."
In her remarks, Secretary Napolitano highlighted the important work and recent series of reforms at DHS's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), including eliminating the backlog for citizenship-related background checks that had developed in past years, launching a new website - in both English and Spanish - with user-friendly features such as e-mail and text message updates to increase transparency and investing in immigration integration efforts to build a strong foundation upon which immigrants can exercise their rights and responsibilities as Americans.
Secretary Napolitano also reiterated U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) prioritization of the identification and removal illegal immigrants that have committed serious crimes in its immigration enforcement efforts, and ICE's major reforms to the detention and removal system, which prioritize health, safety and uniformity in detention facilities while ensuring security, efficiency and fiscal responsibility.
For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
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