Lawmakers are being pushed by immigration activists into passing immigration reform next year with Congress having left for its holiday break with no significant headway having been made on the issue. Immigration activists have also spent several months lobbying for deportations to be halted until the immigration reform bill is passed by Congress.
The sentiments of these advocates were echoed by House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over the weekend, says US News & World Report. In an interview with Telemundo on Sunday, Pelosi asked the Obama administration to demonstrate more caution prior to deporting immigrants in the United States, especially if they have not committed any other offences, saying that simply being in the country without documentation is not grounds for deportation.
“It is great,” says the Dream Action Coalition spokeswoman, Erika Andiola, who was delighted by Pelosi’s comments. “I hope that she is really pushing for the President to take action on this issue while we work for immigration reform.” Andiola is not a stranger to the threat of deportation herself, with her mother having been detained back in January and threatened with the prospect of being forced to return to her home country.
Her mother was actually put on a bus, but one that was turned around as a result of Andiola’s campaign that resulted in 40,000 people signing a petition, thousands calling US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Congressmen making phone calls on her behalf. As Andiola notes however, many others are being deported with no fuss because they lack such connections.