This Week in Immigration Reform – Week Ending March 7
Week Ending March 7, 2014
This week in immigration reform: NCLR salutes the tremendous work done for immigration reform by the Senate Gang of Eight and the Fast for Families fasters at our 2014 Capital Awards gala, where NCLR’s Janet Murguía criticizes continued House Republican inaction on immigration reform and calls on President Obama to stop unnecessary deportations; hundreds of advocates travel to Washington, D.C. for NCLR’s 2014 National Latino Advocacy Days and lobby Congress on the need for immigration reform legislation and other Latino priorities; and NCLR and its network tweet at House Republican leadership, telling them that Latino voters will remember their obstruction when they go to the polls in the November midterm elections. NCLR kept the community informed in a number of media appearances this week, with staff quoted in the Associated Press, the Washington Post, Politico, CBS News, NPR, NBC, USA Today, Univision, Fox News LA, The Hill, and many other news outlets.
—NCLR salutes efforts of Gang of Eight, Fast for Families at 2014 Capital Awards, where Janet Murguía lambasts House Republican inaction on immigration reform while calling on Pres. Obama to stop unnecessary deportations. NCLR bestowed its highest honors on the Senate Gang of Eight and the Fast for Families fasters, honoring them for their heroic efforts for immigration reform, at its 27th Annual Capital Awards ceremony this Tuesday, Mar. 4th.
NCLR’s Janet Murguía focused on the fight for immigration reform in her remarks Tuesday night, criticizing continued House Republican inaction on immigration reform while also calling on President Obama to stop separating families by putting an end to hundreds of thousands of senseless deportations. You can read Janet’s remarks here. 
Fast for Families fasters Eliseo Medina, Lisa Sharon Harper, and Rudy Lopez are hailed at NCLR’s 2014 Capital Awards.
Representing the Senate Gang of Eight, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) are awarded for their efforts on immigration reform by NCLR’s Janet Murguía, NCLR Board Chair Jorge Plasencia, and NCLR Board Member Cid Wilson at the 2014 Capital Awards (photo: @SEIU_Eliseo).
—Hundreds of advocates come together at NCLR’s 2014 National Latino Advocacy Days for two days of trainings, meetings on the Hill, and action for immigration reform. This week witnessed hundreds of community leaders, representing 25 states across the country including North Carolina, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, and Idaho, coming to Washington, D.C. to take part in NCLR’s 2014 National Latino Advocacy Days.
The advocates – many of them members of NCLR’s nearly 300 Affiliate organizations – spent Wednesday, Mar. 5 at an all-day training, where they strategized around achieving Latino legislative priorities in 2014 and prepared to visit their members of Congress on the Hill on Thursday, Mar. 6.
National Latino Advocacy Days participants attending a policy session on strategies for keeping families together.
NCLR Affiliates and partners followed up on the day of training by traveling to the Hill this Thursday, Mar. 6 and meeting with their members of Congress and staff. Advocates urged the House to get to work on an immigration reform bill and discussed other areas of concern to the Latino community, including education, equality and economic opportunity, healthcare, and school bullying.
Members of NCLR Affiliates Enlace Chicago, Gads Hill Center, Latino Policy Forum, and Northwest Side Housing Center prepare to meet with their members of Congress as part of NCLR’s 2014 National Latino Advocacy Days (photo: @Latinopolicy).
NCLR, its Affiliates, and partners capped off the day’s visits by staging a mock election outside of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA-7) office, with advocates submitting ballots marked “yes” for immigration reform as a reminder to House Republicans that Latino voters care deeply about reform and will remember those who obstruct it in the 2014 November elections.
NCLR and NCLR Affiliates line up outside House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA-7) office and prepare to deliver hundreds of “votes” for immigration reform to the Congressman.
Youth members of NCLR Affiliate Latino Memphis join NCLR staff in the halls of Congress for NCLR’s 2014 National Latino Advocacy Days (photo: @LatinoMemphis).
—NCLR & allies tweet at Congressional leadership: we’ll be voting “Yes” on immigration reform. In support of its Mar. 6 action outside of Majority Leader Cantor’s office, NCLR and its network are tweeting at Congressional leadership this week, telling GOP leaders that Latino voters care deeply about immigration reform and, if Republican leadership continues to block progress on reform, will remember when they go to the polls in the November midterm elections and beyond.
Join us and use our Twitter tool to send Congressional leadership a message, and share the graphic below on Facebook:
