AURORA | An Aurora City Council committee is partial to supporting a resolution in favor of asking Congress to enact broader immigration reform, rather than a measure introduced to Aurora City Council last month that would’ve been a declaration of support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The Management and Finance Committee discussed two options for the resolution Wednesday. Both are slated to be presented to council during a study session in mid-November, after a new city council is seated. The preferred version could then move onto a regular council meeting.
One version, referred to as the short version, still focuses on DACA, like the original version did. It says that the City of Aurora would support “an overhaul of the United States immigration system” and “and to pass legislation supporting the continuation of DACA.”
The other version, dubbed as the long version, only states the city favors an immigration system overhaul, and that Congress should act.
Councilwoman Sally Mounier, who requested during a city council meeting in September that a committee look at the resolution before the council cast votes, said she favored the long version.
“All these other entities that are supporting DACA have ignored other immigration issues,” Mounier said during the Wednesday Management and Finance Committee meeting. “I’d like to see Aurora take the lead in focusing in on immigration (reform) and getting the entire Congress to work on immigration in its entirety.”
Councilmen Brad Pierce and Bob Roth agreed the broader version of the resolution, which makes mention of DACA, was a better way to go.
But councilwoman Renie Peterson said she felt the shorter version, specifically tied to DACA, was closer aligned with the original resolution. Peterson was also uneasy that the longer version made reference to statistics from the Pew Research Center and the Center for American Progress.
The original resolution, introduced by Councilman Charlie Richardson, was a nod to the federal program, an Obama-era executive order that President Donald Trump recently rescinded. Both Democrats and Republicans have vowed to find a legislative fix for the program within six months of the program being cancelled by Trump.
At the Sept. 26 meeting, councilwoman Sally Mounier said she felt the original resolution was too narrow.
“I totally support a path to citizenship for the DACA kids. What I also support, though, is a total and complete immigration reform… It is time to tell Congress that we have multiple issues with immigration,” Mounier said.
At first, Richardson said he was going to submit a resolution that only included DACA, but after learning about Congressman Mike Coffman’s BRIDGE Act, which would extend DACA for three years, Richardson opted to included that, too, because he thought the rest of the council would support Coffman’s efforts.
Coffman said in a statement last month he didn’t have any input during the drafting of the resolution, but appreciated Richardson’s work in recognizing the importance of the program.