The following press release is from Virginia Organizing. Why don’t we have comprehensive immigration reform yet? Very simple: the Teapublican-controlled House of Representatives is blocking a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that passed there overwhelmingly, because a sizable number of Republicans are of the Steve King ilk (xenophobes). It’s sad, but frankly I’m not optimistic we’re going to get anywhere on this issue until those people are no longer in control of the House. And that, in turn, depends on all of us turning out in droves in 2014 to elect Democrats, even in gerrymandered, “safe” Republican districts. We’ll see…
Richmond, Va.-On Saturday, July 27 at 1 p.m., Virginia Organizing and other groups held a rally at Monroe Park to call on House Majority Leader Congressman Eric Cantor to support comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Over 100 people came out to the event to show support.
The rally was one of many actions nationwide asking U.S. House of Representative leaders to support comprehensive immigration reform that includes protections for families and a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S.
“At this rally, we wanted to show Congress, especially House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, that the people of Virginia care deeply about comprehensive immigration reform,” said Ladelle McWhorter, Vice-Chairperson of Virginia Organizing. “We believe in extending citizenship to the millions of immigrants working hard and contributing to the U.S. economy and to those young people who have grown up here without documentation. We want Congress to protect breadwinners from unscrupulous employers and work to keep families together.”
McWhorter believes we cannot delay immigration reform any longer. “Virginia Organizing insists that the U.S. House of Representatives consider a comprehensive immigration reform bill that resolves the problems of our broken immigration system. A path to citizenship is good for immigrant families, good for our economy, and consistent with our national values.”
A comprehensive immigration reform bill passed the U.S. Senate on June 27 and included a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The U.S. House of Representatives leadership has since said they will not take up the U.S. Senate bill, but will try to create their own bill. Bills that have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives have dealt with only individual pieces of immigration reform and do not address the problems of our broken immigration system.
Photos of the event are available to media for use and may be found online by clicking here.
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