Two days after House Republicans took a largely symbolic vote condemning the president’s executive immigration action, District of Columbia Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser joined mayors from around the country in New York City to discuss strategies for implementing the order.

“Mayors across the country recognize the important contributions immigrants have made in our nation’s history – and that they continue to make in our cities every day,” Bowser said in a statement Monday. “We applaud the Obama Administration for looking to address immigration reform in a responsible and respectful way. These new policies will ensure that thousands of undocumented immigrants in the District of Columbia are given a fair shot at the American Dream.”

In November, President Barack Obama announced an executive order to address undocumented immigrants in the United States, which protected 4 million people from deportation and made them eligible for work permits, and made a number of other changes to the immigration system. The administration also argued that the president’s action was necessary in light of Congress not passing an immigration overhaul.

The roughly two dozen mayors who met Sunday and Monday are also part of the Cities United for Immigration Action, a coalition focused on implementing the executive order. The mayors met to develop a cohesive implementation strategy and panelists included Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director León Rodríguez, and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

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