There have been a variety of attempts around the country, from Florida to southern California, to revive immigration reform as a bill offering a path to citizenship languishes in the House. Some of these efforts have been rather creative in making the point.
For example, Republican Congressman Gary Miller saw a rather unique delivery appear at his Rancho Cucamonga, California office. Cardboard boxes colorfully festooned with rubber ducks appeared at his office. The message? That Rep. Miller should stop “ducking” the question of immigration reform and finally stake out a clear position. The organization Mi Familia Vota wanted to draw attention to the need for a clear path to immigration for 11 million undocumented immigrants. Elsewhere across the country, activists have staged sit-ins and demonstrations.
The strategy now embraced by many advocacy groups is to seek passage of comprehensive immigration reform sometime during 2014. Max Sevillia, the director of policy and legislative affairs for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund says, ‘We’re looking at every tool in the arsenal. This is priority number one.”
Last June, the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a bill without hesitation. Speaker John Boehner then refused to bring it to a vote in the House, citing a lack of Republican support for, the measure. In fact, a House bill introduced in October has only received support from three House Republicans thus far. Activists have subsequently sought to increase pressure on the Speaker and other House Republicans.
Other activists have shifted their focus to the subject of deportation. With deportations now at record high levels, the services of an immigration attorney can be quite helpful. An immigration attorney gains familiarity on a regular basis with the current procedures being employed by the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. Comprehensive immigration reform, though a possibility, has yet to materialize. Immigration lawyers can still help their clients in a variety of ways prior to the long-awaited reforms to the immigration system.
Source: ThePressEnterprise.com, “IMMIGRATION: Legislation battle will spill over into 2014”, David Olson, December 24, 2013
