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Texas Legislators Urge President & Congress To Act On Immigration

The White House

Republicans are signing on to state legislation that urges the federal government to create a roadmap to legal status for undocumented immigrants.

House Concurrent Resolution 44, which was co-authored by RafaelAnchia, D-Dallas, also calls on President Barack Obama and Congress to create a guest worker program that matches willing workers with willing employers in a legal transparent system.

"We have been working very hard to make this a bi-partisan bill," Anchia said. "We have adopted significant portions from conservative organization’s resolutions - the language that they’ve used - and we are hoping, in light of the composition of the House, we are going to be able to get something done."

One of those reaching across the aisle to support the resolution is Rep Jason Villalba, R-Dallas.

"We did have to change some language and add in some components that would give the people on our side of the aisle a little more comfort. So what we added was an anti-amnesty clause, we made it contingent on accountability and border security," Villalba said.

Villalba said they also changed the language from "path to citizenship" to "roadmap to legal status."

Villalba said the resolution has already started to gain Republican support, which includes those who voted the bill out of the House State Affairs Committee.  

He said it is a marked change from two years ago, when fellow lawmakers crafted immigration legislation that was offensive toward Hispanics.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.