WASHINGTON, DC - In advance of potential votes on a series of anti-immigrant amendments to the Senate budget resolution, Mary Kay Henry, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), issued the following statement:

Members of Congress have already begun a serious debate about how to fix our nation's broken immigration system. A number of anti-immigrant amendments that could potentially be voted on in the Senate today pose a serious threat to these bipartisan efforts. These amendments taint the debate over commonsense immigration reform.

"The anti-immigrant amendments already filed, including one to take the Child Tax Credit away from millions of immigrant children, 4/5 of whom are U.S. citizens, should be defeated. We cannot allow extremists on the right sabotage such an important debate.

"We will be watching to see which Senators introduce these anti-immigrant amendments and which Senators vote for them - and we will hold them accountable. These votes will be a true test to tell whether some Republicans have turned over a new leaf on commonsense immigration reform. We urge Senators to vote against any and all anti-immigrant and anti-working family amendments that come to the floor today."

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