Nutter Joins Mayors Backing Obama on Immigration

Mayor Nutter has joined with mayors of two dozen other large American cities to offer President Obama support in his efforts to reduce deportations of immigrants residing illegally in the United States.

Cities United for Immigration Action announced its existence today.

“The president’s action on immigration will strengthen our cities. It will keep families together, grow our economies and foster additional community trust in law enforcement and government,” the coalition said in a statement. “We are ready — and together we’re rolling up our sleeves to turn this policy into a better reality for millions of hardworking people in the communities we serve.”

It’s no real surprise that Nutter signed onto the coalition: He signed an order earlier this year limiting Philadelphia’s official cooperation with federal immigration officials, — that coming one year after he created the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant and Multi-Cultural Affairs, pointing out that Philadelphia’s recent population growth was driven in large part by arriving immigrants.

“The 2010 census showed that Philadelphia’s population grew for the first time in decades, [which] was driven in large part by immigrants,” the city announced in creating the office. “Our government must foster their integration into the social, civic and economic culture of our City and … celebrate the rich diversity of the communities from which they come.”

Nutter’s latest action comes in the wake of new research from Pew’s Hispanic Trends Project suggesting that Pennsylvania was one of seven states — New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia were others — that saw the population of “unauthorized immigrants” grow in the wake of the 2007 recession. Pennsylvania’s population of such immigrants rose by 30,000 people between 2009-2012. [CNN]