Dean Johnson Comments on Boston Bombing and Immigration Reform for KCRA-3
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for a news report on television station KCRA-3 on the potential impact of the April 15 terrorist bombing of the Boston Marathon on a Senate plan to reform U.S. immigration policy. The attacks allegedly were carried out by two immigrants, prompting questions as to whether concern over immigration and national security might derail reform.
"I sure hope it doesn't," Dean Johnson said. "I think the bipartisan group of senators who put this together put together a very balanced, very careful, very thoughtful reform proposal that includes more border enforcement, a path to legalization for some undocumented people, and revisions to our legal immigration laws. I think we do need to pay attention to security, but we shouldn't allow this horrible event, an outlier event at some level, to derail immigration reform after so much time, effort, and attention has been paid to it."
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.