Immigration Activists To Launch "Week of Escalation"

Immigration activist groups have declared they will launch a “week of escalation” this week to pressure lawmakers in Congress with acts of civil disobedience to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year.

According to Politico, pro-immigration reform groups will target House Republican leaders and over 20 Republicans they think are vulnerable on the issue. Their goal is to get a vote on immigration reform this year. 

Republican mega-donor Paul Singer has teamed up with George Soros to finance pro-comprehensive immigration reform groups like the Evangelical Immigration Table, which released a letter on Monday urging lawmakers to support a pathway to citizenship, and the National Immigration Forum, which will also be mobilizing support. 

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement, described as “an umbrella organization for an array of immigration rights groups nationwide,” will “intensify the pressure on House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as well as 26 Republicans” representing districts with a significant number of minorities. 

“You should expect to see more escalations and more… civil acts of disobedience,” Kica Matos, a spokeswoman for the coalition, told Politico. 

On Oct. 28-29, groups that support comprehensive immigration reform like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s New American Economy, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us will try to pressure Republicans in the House to enact immigration legislation. 

House Republicans are reportedly working on piecemeal immigration bills in the House, and they are doing so with the intent of going to conference with the Senate. Proponents and opponents of immigration reform believe a provision to allow a pathway to citizenship for all of the country’s illegal immigrants will prevail if that happens.