October 27, 2009 9:44 AM
A letter signed by 111 members of the House of Representatives was sent to the President urging Obama to push for immediate comprehensive immigration reform.
With the legislative machine likely to become unstuck once health care reform is completed, immigration advocates hope that the Congress will quickly take up immigration reform. Rep. Luis Gutierrez will introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill next month and he says that the window for its passage may only stay open until the early spring.
The New York Immigration Coalition played a major role in lining up support for the letter, which was written by Queens Congressman Joe Crowley.
Tamar Jacoby, who heads an employer-based group wrote to her supporters that they need to begin mobilizing for immigration reform now. "We must keep up the drumbeat...Many members of Congress still don't get it. Many are still leery of immigration. And when they go home to their districts, they still hear only the voices shouting 'No.' We have to help change that."