Thread: South Florida groups to push for immigration reform

South Florida groups to push for immigration reform

BY JOSE PAGLIERY
jpagliery@MiamiHerald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southfl ... 76949.html

Advocacy groups from South Florida and across the nation seeking immigration reform will descend on Washington D.C. later this week, holding President Barack Obama to his promise to address the issue during his first year in office.

The groups, backed by leagues of faith-based organizations and workers' unions, hope to meet with hundreds of lawmakers and have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put the issue on Congress's agenda.

Their list of suggested policy changes includes amnesty for the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants and an end to deportations that rip apart immigrant families.

All have caused intense debate in Congress and have failed to pass in recent years. But this time will be different, said Carlos Pereira, executive director of Centro de Orientación del Inmigrante in Miami.

That is, if advocacy groups can ride the wave that rolled Democrats into power in November, when 10 of the 15 House Republicans who lost their seats were opposed to offering undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

''The political power of Hispanics in the U.S. has changed,'' he said. ``We're in every corner of the country now.''

And their job this week, he said, will be to convince legislators that immigration-reform supporters make up a large enough constituency nationwide to affect elections in 2010 and beyond.

Among the statistics they'll carry with them into meetings with legislators: The number of Hispanic voters increased by 44 percent to 11 million between 2004 and 2008, according to the Immigration Policy Center, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

Millie Herrera, who was president of Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida last year, said Obama's election should make it easier to find supporter of comprehensive immigration reform.

''We carried the water for this party,'' she said, referring to Obama's win in Florida.

With economic data showing that legalizing undocumented immigrants would positively affect the U.S. economy, advocates are hoping to finally give those opposed to immigration reform Congress reason to change their minds.

Members of the Miami-based Florida Immigration Coalition hope to meet with the state's congressional delegation, including Rep.' Cliff Stearns Gus Bilirakis, both considered to be opposed to the type of immigration reform lobbied by advocacy groups.

But meetings with legislators will differ from those in 2005 and 2006, when policy debates became election rhetoric that later fizzled.

With Obama in the White House and elections nearly two years away, the opportunity is unlike any before, according to coalition spokeswoman Katherine Gorell.

''We're not letting up until this legislation passes,'' she said. ``This is our strategic window.''

It's not just Republicans who are against illegal immigration. It's the millions of AMERICANS who've lost jobs since Obama became potus. Jobs were lost by Dems and Reps alike, ya think any of them care about legalizing the people who are here against the law and depressed wages?

Tell me another story, papi.

Si SRA Herrera tengo solamente la inteligencia de un nino digame otra vez un cuentillo.

Good one Richard!