By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
8:19 p.m. EDT, October 26, 2013

WASHINGTON — Expect more sit-ins, fasting vigils and demonstrations in coming months, as exasperated immigrants and their supporters in Florida turn to new, more aggressive tactics to demand legal status for an illegal population.

Tired of waiting for Congress to act, some champions of immigration reform in South Florida are risking arrest while resorting to civil disobedience to draw public attention to their cause.

An ongoing vigil in Broward County is part of an escalating series of pressure tactics.

"If it requires me to be disobedient, I will do it — and do it again," said Pedro Alaniz, a chef in Lake Worth who went to Washington earlier this month to get arrested along with 207 others who blocked a street during a mass rally.

"We are tired of the politicians just giving us promises and they don't do anything," said Alaniz, 42, a legal Mexican immigrant. "I left my fingerprints in Washington in black and white, but it was worth it. We will do that here in Florida. We won't plan it. When we see a chance, we will just do it."

The demonstrations are heating up as President Barack Obama tries to breathe new life into legislation in Congress that would legalize an estimated 825,000 immigrants in Florida and about 11 million elsewhere and give them a path to citizenship.

Advocates for Florida's vast immigrant communities are increasing pressure on Republican members of the U.S. House to consider a reform bill similar to one passed in June by the Senate. It would beef up enforcement at the borders, require employers to verify the status of workers and allow millions of immigrants to live and work in the U.S. legally after paying fines, learning English and passing a criminal background check.

Caught in the middle, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach County, already has been hit from both sides of the explosive debate, with reform backers waging a sit-in at his Doral offices earlier this month while opponents shouted and waved signs outside.

Richard Freer, of Kendall, acknowledges being outnumbered by throngs of those who rally for reform.

"We don't have those numbers, but we do have the truth and what's right," he said. "We should be able to control our borders. We should be able to deport invaders."

The few dozen protesters who occupied Diaz-Balart's offices for six hours Oct. 11 left peacefully when police arrived. They joined dozens of others outside the Broward Transitional Center, an immigration detention facility in Pompano Beach, for a vigil that has lasted more than two weeks.

The next big step in Florida is a downtown Orlando rally on Tuesday. An informal network of immigration activists and student groups — including members of the Florida Immigrant Coalition — plan to gather near the Orange County Regional History Center at 4 p.m. About 500 people are expected.

"We want to avoid as much conflict with the police as possible," said Isabel Sousa-Rodriguez, 24, a Colombian immigrant who grew up in Miami and now lives in Tampa. "We are going to have lawyers and different kinds of liaison with the police to keep everything under control."

Some organizers foresee an escalation of disruptive tactics.

"We're going to do whatever we have to do to make sure our voices are heard," said Kathy Bird, who leads an immigration-reform campaign for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, an advocacy group based in Miami. "We want to make sure they [Republicans in Congress] don't put this issue on the back burner."

Diaz-Balart was a somewhat surprising target, since he has been meeting with Democrats and fellow Republicans to try to thrash out comprehensive legislation that would provide legal status for illegal immigrants.

"He's been working on it for years, but where is the bill?" Bird said. "We want to see action behind his leadership, not just words."

Diaz-Balart has been waiting for the right time to unveil legislation that can draw enough support from fellow Republicans to bring it to the House floor for a vote. Most Democrats have long been willing to vote for something similar to the Senate bill.

He acknowledges that time is running out before next year's congressional election season politicizes the debate and makes "what is already difficult even more difficult." That means it must happen by the end of this year or the beginning of 2014.

But House Republican leaders have declared they will not consider a bill unless it's backed by most Republicans.

Diaz-Balart wants to lower the temperature, which he says is the only way to persuade wavering lawmakers.

"The ones who are out there just making noise tend to be very partisan or just concerned about raising money for themselves instead of serving the interests of those they claim to serve," he said last week. "Those groups are not helpful."

But advocates such as Alaniz, the chef from Lake Worth, have lost all patience and are willing to risk arrest to make their point.

While he is a successful legal resident — with his own Spanish-language cable-TV cooking show broadcast from West Palm Beach — Alaniz has four brothers still struggling to get legal. That's one reason he rounded up a busload of 80 people from Palm Beach County to go to Washington.

"I am the voice for 11 million people who don't have a voice," he said. "We cannot give up until something happens in Washington."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,7637871.story