Immigrant groups to rally at Feinstein's office

A coalition of groups led by labor organizations will march on Senator Diane Feinstein's office in West Los Angeles Wednesday morning, coinciding with a larger rally in Washington, D.C. Demonstrators want to send a message to Democratic senator.

 

"I think it's important that California's most senior senator is a strong and loud voice for immigration reform that keeps families together and provides a realistic roadmap for citizenship," said Jacob Hay, spokesman for SEIU United Service Workers West.

 

Senator Feinstein is expected to be out of town, but the groups want to have their say on legislation to be proposed by the "Gang of Eight." It is a bipartisan collection of senators led by Republican John McCain who say their bill will be ready this week. The main points of emphasis are to:

1. Figure out if there can be a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living here illegally.
2. Put more officers and drones at the United States-Mexico border.
3. Enact visa reform across the board that would create new visas for tens of thousands of skilled and unskilled works to enter the U.S.

That last point was agreed on by strange bedfellows: the United States Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO. The agreement brings business and labor together on the proposed bill.

 

It's not immigrant workers who bring down wages in Los Angeles, Hay argued.

 

"It's unscrupulous employers who use their immigrant status to treat these workers not as well," Hay said. "So when we fix the immigration system, create a more level playing field, create some rules and some processes, it will actually help the job quality and raise wages."

 

But before those undocumented immigrants get even treatment, the politicians will have their say. Mark Jones, the chair of the department of political science at Rice University, says the main point of disagreement on the issue will be how and when those 11 million immigrants can become citizens.

 

"There's general consensus about allowing people who are undocumented to legalize their status," Jones said. "But there isn't a consensus on the pathway to citizenship yet, though I think in the end the Republicans will agree to something, as long as it has a long-time horizon."

 

Previous immigration reforms did not pass in 2007, but public support for paths to citizenship has risen since then. Jones said Democrats will be more unified behind the new bill, and Republicans are in a vulnerable political position after Hispanics overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama in last year's Presidential election. He cites Arizona's SB 1070 law and Mitt Romney's "self deportation" plan as hurting the reputation of the Republican party among Latinos.

 

"You have Republicans waking up to the reality that if this trends continues and Republicans continue to lose Hispanic voters to the Democrats, that they're likely to be a minority party nationally and have no hope whatsoever of winning the presidency, as well as maintaining their House majority, or winning back a Senate majority," Jones said.

 

Immigrant rights advocates better have good walking shoes, because Jones says this is just the start of a long political process.