Thread: Congressman: House immigration reform bill to go public within weeks

Congressman: House immigration reform bill to go public within weeks

Posted: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 5:00 am
Jacqueline Armendariz | The Monitor

EDINBURG — One of the most well-recognized congressmen pushing for comprehensive immigration reform said the U.S. House will have its own bill on the matter within the next few weeks.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., made the announcement Tuesday to a room full of Hidalgo County’s power brokers that included several city managers, business group leaders, school district superintendents and economic development council heads.

U.S. Reps. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, and Filemon Vela Jr., D-Brownsville, hosted Gutierrez at several events in the region. With an optimistic tone and citing the U.S. Senate’s progress thus far, the congressmen spoke to supporters at a University of Texas-Pan American rally. They said passing comprehensive reform would take the work of Republicans and Democrats, but acknowledged partisan divisions and the call for more border security.

“People ask me: ‘And what is it the Republicans want?’” Gutierrez said to the rally audience, earlier noting U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined in him in support of reform last week. “And I answer them: ‘If they are prepared to extend their hand to undocumented immigrants and allow them to come out of the darkness — so they can live without fear and terror — and stop deportations, it doesn’t matter to me. I’ll tell them thank you and we’ll do it together.’”

The discussion with local officials followed the rock concert atmosphere of the UTPA rally, where the audience broke into chants several times in support of a policy overhaul and Dreamers, a collective group of immigrants who came to the country as youths without legal documentation and are pushing for reform. They take their name from the stalled DREAM Act, which would have provided a path to citizenship for young immigrants attending college who are in the country illegally.

UTPA President Robert Nelsen claimed the university has the largest population of Dreamers in the nation — 645.

“Of course, they’re excited. This is about their future,” he said. “They have a future because, if there is immigration reform, we really will make a difference in their lives. Without it, we will fail.”

Gutierrez said immigration reform will come more easily than the failed negotiations surrounding gun control and the federal budget.

Vela told the room of local leaders “political reality” calls for compromise.

“There are those in this country who want a condition to a pathway to citizenship on findings of border security,” he said in earlier remarks to the rally crowd. “But, when you condition the pathway on border security measures that can never be met — what you are saying is you do not want comprehensive immigration reform.”

Regarding the House’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, Hinojosa said it has more specifics than the Senate’s bill, but Gutierrez said he would not make them public because of the ongoing negotiations.

“This is the year for immigration reform. The time is now,” Hinojosa told the rally crowd.

McAllen police Chief Victor Rodriguez, who was also at the rally, said a pathway to citizenship is important and that local police are paying attention to reform efforts.

“Over the years, there’s been an effort to localize, basically, immigration issues and that’s one thing that we simply cannot do; don’t want to do,” he said. “We believe this is a federal issue. We want to make sure it stays that way.”

Maria Ibarra, a Dreamer who is president of the UTPA Minority Affairs Council, said she is cautiously optimistic about reform and will continue the fight for it. The 19-year-old came to the U.S. from Vicente Guerrero, Durango, Mex. 11 years ago. MAC hosted the UTPA rally.

“It’s huge and it’s monumental for our organization,” she said of hosting Gutierrez. “We’re in the middle of two borders; we’re between a checkpoint and the border with Mexico. We’re in between the borderlands. We’re in an area where immigration happens every day; an area where families get torn apart every day. …”

Gutierrez said all immigrants, not only Dreamers or other classes like high-tech workers, must be included in comprehensive reform.

“We are here for all 11 million of the undocumented,” he said. “For indeed, they are all special to us; they are all important to us and they’re all human to us.”

The congressmen also held a panel discussion regarding health care at the Doctors Hospital Renaissance at Edinburg Conference Center Tuesday.

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Jacqueline Armendariz covers education for The Monitor. She can be reached at jarmendariz@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4434 or on Twitter, @jarmendariz.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...9bb30f31a.html

What the hell is a Pan American rally???

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

What the hell is a Pan American rally???

W

The name of the school is: The University of Texas-Pan American www.utpa.edu/‎
The University of Texas-Pan American public website, Edinburg, TX.

So their Dream Act Rally is called a Pan American rally.

Thanks, i was reading that in a hurry and thought I was missing something.

W