Lawmakers try new approach to immigration changes
WASHINGTON - Latino lawmakers and advocates are taking a new approach to the push for changes in U.S. immigration policy, making a humanitarian appeal to Americans to support fellow citizens who have relatives living in fear of detention and deportation.
First up: community meetings at churches in 17 cities, with the first set for Friday in Providence, R.I. The panel is set to meet in El Paso on March 13, although the exact location of the meeting was not immediately announced.
“We are going to focus on families and put this in a biblical, moral perspective,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who created the model for the campaign with meetings in Chicago and New York.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York, chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Tuesday that the National Family Unity Campaign is a “first step on putting a human face on how the broken immigration system is impacting the men and women of America.”
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They hope to draw in other minority lawmakers by pointing out that the family separations are happening to immigrants, documented and undocumented, and their U.S. citizen families, who may be black, Asian, Irish or of other national origins.
“When we finish this 17-city tour, you will hear testimonies from across this nation from American citizens. Our goal is to raise the banner of comprehensive immigration reform,” Gutierrez said.
Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., offered his own tragic stories to parry the pro-immigration arguments.
“I have rescued illegals when they were drowning and rescued the bodies on the highways,” he said. “When they go to the churches, why don’t they go see what’s happening on the border and then go to Latin America and see what’s happening to the towns there? No one is talking about the way illegal immigration is breaking families apart to start with.”
Bilbray said the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is addressing a symptom of immigration policies when it should be ensuring employers are not hiring illegal workers.