Californian politicians vow to fight for immigration action despite Speaker delays

The issue of immigration continues to take center stage in the political arena. Vows against positive immigration reform have popped up consistently in the campaigns of Republican presidential hopefuls, oftentimes taking shape in the form of derogatory comments made by front-runner Donald Trump. Following Paul Ryan’s ascension to Speaker of the House, immigration reform advocates are even more worried efforts will take a major step back. And it would appear as though Ryan has given them good reason to worry. “I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue,” Ryan said of immigration reform in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Paul Ryan in part guaranteed his own successful run at Speaker of the House by promising delayed action on immigration, according to the Los Angeles Times. Needless to say, proponents of positive immigration reform are worried that nothing can be done for the foreseeable future. But some politicians from California (a state with a heavy immigrant population) are continuing the fight for immigration reform. Here are three politicians who refuse to quit: Gov. Jerry Brown Gov. Brown (D) has signed immigration bills into laws that are aimed at helping improve the lives of undocumented immigrants living in the state of California. He’s signed into law proposals that extend relief for children and younger immigrants who may be at risk of losing older, providing family members to deportation. He’s helped pass drug laws that ensure a due process of law when dealing with immigrants in the criminal system and has fought hard to protect immigrants from crime. Rep. Jeff Denham Despite many other members of his party being so adamantly opposed to immigration, Denham (R) insists that most of the House Republicans will support his ENLIST bill, which grants immigrants who were brought to the country as children before 2011 legal residence if they serve in the armed forces. “I am confident that we have a majority of the majority on the ENLIST Act, and I’m going to push forward,” he said in an interview with LA Times. Rep. David Valadao Valadao, also a Republican, is taking a different approach when it comes to taking positive steps in immigration reform. He lacks the confidence in the Republican House being able to work with President Obama, but wants to push to get “common sense stuff” done, according to the Hill.