Posted: Friday, August 7, 2015 12:41 pm | Updated: 3:03 pm, Fri Aug 7, 2015.
By Danielle Nadler Leesburg

A small group of self-described immigrants gathered in front of Rep. Barbara Comstock’s Sterling office this morning to protest comments the congresswoman made almost a year ago on the campaign trail.

They waved signs that read, “Don’t railroad immigration reform,” and “I’m not a FedEx package!,” and toted FedEx boxes. They referred to a comment Comstock (R-VA-10) made in a September 2014 debate against her opponent for the 10th Congressional District Democrat John Foust when asked about how to control illegal immigration.

“FedEx tracks packages that are coming in and out of the country. We can track people,” she said.

In the protest this morning, 22-year-old Arlington resident Hareth Andrade-Ayala, an undocumented immigrant, said she’s lived in the United States since was 8 years old. She’s working toward her bachelor’s degree at the George Washington University.

“We are human,” she said. “My family will not stand to witness politicians objectify our immigrant community. Instead of steering us toward a path of solutions, politicians are steering us toward violence.”

One protestor waved a sign that referred to Donald Trump, the leading GOP presidential candidate and real estate mogul who's caught flack in recent weeks for accusing Mexican immigrants of being drug mules and rapists, according to news reports.

Jeff Marschner, Comstock's communication director, said the protest was orchestrated and attended by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee members and called it "a failed DCCC political stunt they recycled from last year."

In an emailed statement, Marschner said: "DCCC staff members attended and orchestrated the event.

“The Congresswoman celebrates the diversity in her district every day by working with everyone from all walks of life in her district and focusing on their priorities of opportunity, jobs, and education and visiting her constituents in their communities, at their cultural events, and at their businesses and schools.

"The Congresswoman is working to improve our legal immigration system so that it protects our borders and continues to welcome those who play by the rules. We are a nation of immigrants as well as a nation of laws. The House recently passed, and the Congresswoman supported, the bipartisan Enforce the Law For Sanctuary Cities Act which passed the House and seeks to ensure that state and local governments enforce our immigration laws and respect the rule of law so we do not have another shocking case like the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco.”

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, undocumented immigrant and habitual felon, admitted to killing Steinle last month, according to news reports.


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