Oklahoma State Senate Calls on Congress to Pass Immigration Reform

State Senator Harry Coates has won unanimous approval for legislation calling on Congress to pass meaningful immigration reform. Senate Joint Resolution 6 was approved on Tuesday. Coates said citizens across the nation are frustrated with the lack of congressional action on the issue of immigration reform.

"People are fed up with Washington's failure to address this issue, and yet in order to have true reform, it has to come from the federal level," said Coates, R-Seminole. "Instead, states like Oklahoma have tried to address this problem on their own, with many locally enacted provisions tied up in court battles."

Coates said the patchwork of state legislation cannot address the growing problem of border violence as drug cartels push their battles onto American soil.

"We've been hearing more and more about violence spilling into U.S. cities like Houston, and until Washington does something, it will likely only get worse," Coates said. "We need Congress to put partisanship aside and enact legislation that will protect American soil, and at the same time give good,
honest people who want to immigrate legally a system that makes that possible."