Over the past several months, comprehensive immigration reform has taken center stage, culminating in the August month of action, where hundreds of events nationwide were held calling on our elected officials to pass fair immigration reform with a path to citizenship this year.
Catholic dioceses across the country will be using September as a time of prayer and fasting for immigration reform.
With the events in Syria and the upcoming debt ceiling deadline coming up, some are worried that immigration reform will be put on hold while Congress works on those issues. This doesn’t have to be the case.
Immigration reform must remain at the top of the agenda for Congress as they return from recess, despite everything else that’s going on.
“The fact of the matter is that if Congress wants to vote they will, and the community has to push them to do it, This is the time for reforming immigration,” Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition told the Daily News on Sunday.
Choi said:
“We have heard enough excuses through the years: Hurricane Sandy, the Newtown massacre, everything is an excuse for inaction, an excuse for those who do not want anything to happen with immigration.”
The truth is, Congress has the ability to debate multiple issues at the same time. Turn on C-SPAN on any given day and Congress will hold hearings on everything ranging from regulating big business, to steroids in baseball, to immigration reform and what we should do in Syria.
Like Steven Choi said, the ball is in Congress’ court right now. Now is the time that we keep up the pressure on our elected officials to take up the matter of comprehensive immigration reform over the coming months. Call your local representative now and ask for the speedy passage of immigration reform with a path to citizenship for the 11 million.
