Despite the attention being concentrated on the government shutdown that has taken place in the United States this week, Democrats have been staying on task with the issue of immigration reform as they made the announcement of a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform.
“Despite the appearance that would suggest everyone in Washington is focused on one thing, work is going on on other issues beneath the radar,” says the head of ImmigrationWorks USA, Tamar Jacoby. The gang of Democrats was led in the announcement by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who stressed that immigration reform is a crucial issue that needs to be taken care of. The Democrats also added in a provision to the proposal in order to try to gain support from conservative Republicans that would add hundreds of miles of extra fencing onto the border, plus the addition of another 20,000 border control agents.
Jeff Hauser, the spokesman for the comprehensive immigration reform support group the AFL-CIO told the Washington Post that the need to pass immigration reform is now becoming urgent and that the pressure is now on the Republican Party to start moving on the issue.
Hauser pointed out that the deportation crisis did not take a break just because of the current budget crisis. He said: “Each day more than 1,000 aspiring Americans are being deported. That crisis must end. It’s constructive that pro-immigration forces in the House are taking action because it reflects the fact that the issue remains at the forefront of the conversation among communities across the country.”