At Critical Time in National Immigration Reform Efforts, Assemblyman Crespo to Lead Task Force on New American
Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo, the new Chair of the Assembly Task Force on
New Americans, today released the following statement on his new
leadership appointment.
“Today,
I am most grateful to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for the trust he
has placed in me through my appointment to the lead the Assembly Task
Force on New Americans. Through a period that covers my entire adult
life, it has been under the leadership of Speaker Silver that New York
has moved toward policies that both respect the contributions of our
immigrant residents and ease their transition into a new society.
I
am the son of Puerto Rican and Peruvian parents; one an American
citizen by birth the other through immigration and naturalization.
Their hardships and hard work has allowed me with the opportunity to
serve our State and nation as an elected official. The values they
instilled in me are the cornerstone of my work as a public official for
the people of New York State.
It
is with humbleness and eagerness that I accept my post as Chairman of
the Task Force on New Americans. Our nation is in the midst of long
overdue immigration reform. The past decade has witnessed perhaps the
most anti-immigrant epoch in American history: Thousands of families
torn apart, wholesale civil rights violations, and systematic attempts
to stigmatize entire communities.
There
are over 170 nationalities represented in communities all across our
State. Slightly over 40% of the population of New York City are
immigrants. It was the growth of our immigrant communities over the past
decade that prevented New York State from losing more seats in Congress
after the 2010 Census and reapportionment process.
Today,
immigration reform, national health care policy and regional workforce
issues are factors that will shape the lives of our immigrant
residents. I look forward to working on these issues to help ensure
that New York keeps avenues of success and opportunity open for all our
immigrant communities.
I
am a beneficiary of the American people's generosity, and I hope we can
have comprehensive immigration reform that moves away from stigmas and
dangerous rhetoric while allowing this great country to continue to be
enriched by those who were not born here.”
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