B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International has long been an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. The successful integration of immigrants into our society has led to some of America’s greatest accomplishments.

The president’s plan, as outlined in his address tonight, covers some of the pressing issues of immigration reform. But that still leaves unaddressed the question of the millions of the remaining undocumented population. We ultimately need a plan to cover all undocumented people in this country. We hope that going forward the remainder of this task can be done in a spirit of bi-partisanship in an effort to truly bring a comprehensive plan into play. 

An ideal plan would increase border security and place millions of undocumented workers on a legal path toward citizenship. We believe immigration reform efforts must be achieved at the federal level, ensuring a uniform plan for the entire nation.

As an organization founded by immigrants, we also look for compassion in conversations about immigration reform. Every American has a stake in it. To achieve success in reforming immigration policies, there must be bi-partisan agreement and we call on Congress to focus on the unaddressed issues.

B’nai B’rith will continue to contribute our ideas to the national discussion on this topic.