Thread: Grassroots Activists and 5 Others Against Immigration Reform

Grassroots Activists and 5 Others Against Immigration Reform

By TED HESSON (@tedhesson)
May 20, 2013

Federal Immigration Workers

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Remember 1986

Grassroots conservative groups are credited with helping kill the last immigration reform effort in 2007.
Now, with a bill moving forward in the Senate, they're starting to mobilize again.
Anti-amnesty activists will hold press conferences around the country on May 21, under the common banner of the "Remember 1986" coalition. That's in reference to the 1986 immigration reform law that eventually allowed 2.7 million undocumented immigrants to become legal permanent residents.
The message: the 1986 bill didn't stop illegal immigration and neither will this one.
But compared to the pushback in 2007, vocal grassroots opposition has been tepid so far.
Rusty Childress, the founder of Remember 1986, said that's partly because Republican party leaders are now supporting an immigration overhaul. That includes Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, who are part of the so-called Gang of Eight that drafted the immigration bill in the Senate.
"You would have to ask the Gang of Eight what their motives are, but for the most part I think they're trying to get more control of Washington," Childress said. "The Republicans feel that's slipping away because of the Hispanic vote, and they just seem to be misguided in this topic."
Don't expect thousands of people marching in the streets, at least not yet. But Childress and other activists will be targeting lawmakers to make their voices heard, even as those voices are increasingly on the margins of the public debate.
Here's a look at some of the other factions that are opposing the immigration reform bill in the Senate. 　
　
http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/grassroots-activists-forces-immigration-reform/story?id=19218099 　
　
　
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