Hundreds gather to celebrate bill, push for immigration reform

SEATTLE - Hundreds gathered at Seattle's Victor Steinbrueck Park this morning for a rally and celebration to show support for today's introduction of Rep. Luis Gutierrez's comprehensive immigration reform bill. Replete with a Santa, elves, holiday music and Christmas trees, participants shared their wish for reform on holiday ornaments. Supporters young and old came to the rally from across Washington State, including Mt. Vernon and Cashmere, to support the legislation and urge family unity for the holidays.

Asked why they want immigration reform, people had a wide range of answers: "I want families to be able to stay together and build the future of the Americas," one participant wrote on his ornament. Elementary-school student Cesar Vargas told the crowd, "I am here to fight for my brothers since for nine years I haven't seen them. I think that everybody - even though we are different cultures and different continents and different states - we are all here, today, in the United States, to fight for the people that we love." Others said, "I want my family of three kids to be together with their dad. Please give us the gift of unity," "Nine years without my brother and sister is inhumane," and "Our current system does not work. I support immigration reform so that everyone will be afforded equal rights and opportunities."

As the Seattle celebration kicked off, OneAmerica Executive Director Pramila Jayapal joined a packed room in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. for a news conference introducing the legislation. The new bill, titled "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act" (CIR A.S.A.P.), has already received 82 co-sponsors and includes the following core components:

* Providing a fair pathway to earned legalization that honors the hard work of immigrants and our tradition as a nation of laws;
* Promoting and respecting family unity to keep spouses together and children with their parents;
* Protecting opportunity for education and service through an expanded DREAM Act;
* Protecting the due process right of all;
* Enhancing our national security by focusing our enforcement and security measures on serious criminals, drug runners and terrorists;
* Promoting Immigrant integration.

For a more complete summary of the bill, see the Immigration Policy Center's summary of the bill. The festive Seattle rally ended with participants taking action to get the reform bill rolling by calling 1-866-974-8813 to tell the White House to keep its promise and act to pass comprehensive immigration reform.