Rally Tells Republicans It's Time to Unfold Road Map to Citizenship
Nearly 1,000 people rallied on Capitol Hill today urging Republican lawmakers not to deny millions of aspiring citizens an opportunity to achieve the American Dream. The rally of immigrants, their families, young DREAMers, union members and other immigration reform advocates reminded lawmakers a majority of the public supports commonsense immigration reform with a road map to citizenship and expects Congress to find a solution.
The House Republican caucus was meeting behind closed doors to decide if and when its members would bring an immigration reform bill to the floor and if they would allow a vote on a bill that includes a path to citizenship, which the Senate immigration reform bill, passed late last month, does.
Laura, a 32-year-old home care worker from Tabasco, Mexico, was at the rally with her daughter, brother and other relatives. She said:
We deserve a place here in the United States. We work really hard. If [immigration reform] doesn't pass this year, we will continue fighting until they [politicians] listen to us.
“@el_sanchez7: ¡Congreso escucha! ¡Estamos en la lucha! #timeisnow #11million #reformamigratoria”
— AFL-CIO Latino (@AFLCIOLatino) July 10, 2013
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said he would not allow a vote on the Senate bill and refused to say if an immigration bill crafted by House Republicans would include a road map to citizenship.
Ai-Ling Louie from Bethesda, Md., a member of the OCA/Asian Pacific American Advocates , said today’s rally served as a reminder of the broad public support for a good immigration bill:
All I hear is stall, stall, stall from Boehner. That's not what the people want, as we can clearly hear today.
Groups at the rally included the AFL-CIO, Alliance for Citizenship, AFSCME, Casa de Maryland, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Fair Immigration Reform Movement, Laborers (LIUNA), SEIU, UAW, United We Dream, UNITE HERE, Virginia New Majority and many others.
