Activists Lobby Fitzpatrick to Support Immigration Reform

A group of activists gathered at noon Monday at Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick's Langhorne office to present him with postcards from Bucks County residents that support of the immigration reform bill that passed the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support.

The visit was organized by a state coalition featuring members from Pennsylvania United for Immigration Reform (PUIR), Keystone Progress, Organizing for America and the Unitarian Universalist Pennsylvania Legislative Advocacy Network (UU-PLAN). 

The volunteers collected more than 50 postcards from residents in Bucks County, each with handwritten messages explaining why the issue is important. They plan to return in with more messages during the next few weeks.

"This is a critical human rights issue, political issue and economic issue," said Celia Smith, a Buckingham resident who immigrated to America from Colombia 43 years ago with her family. "This is a real life ethical issue and we need to respond to it as humans."

The immigration bill passed the U.S. Senate on June 27 with a 68-32 vote, with support from all Democratic senators and 14 Republicans, including John McCain (R-Ariz.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Pa. Senator Pat Toomey voted against the legislation. 

The bill creates a path of citizenship for current undocumented immigrants residing in the United States via a 13-year process that includes paying thousands of dollars in fines and back taxes. In return for the path, the U.S. will beef up border patrol by doubling the number of agents and adding 700 miles of fencing along the southern border. Employes will also be required to confirm citizenship of all job applicants through the E-Verify system.

It is now up to the U.S. House of Representatives to debate the bill and bring it to a floor vote.

"There are 14 million people living, working and paying taxes that are not going away," said Tom Thomas, a member of UU-PLAN. "The nation needs these people, and this bill finally gives them some fairness."

Congressman Fitzpatrick was not in the office when the group arrived, but he did make comments about immigration at a town hall meeting in Bristol over the weekend.

“People want to get our economy moving again and immigration reform is part of the formula to putting us back on the right track," he said. "The easiest way to tell that America is still strong is that more people are trying to get in than trying to get out.  That is not the case with most countries in the world."

The congressman continued: "However, before we can determine the most compassionate and fair course of action for immigration reform, we need to know who is here already. We must strengthen our borders to keep Americans safe while creating a baseline to find out who is here.  Once we know who is here, we can then have a responsible and informed process to support families and get our economy moving again. Ultimately, the American Dream should be available to everybody who plays by the rules. But, it is clear that the rules aren’t working anymore and they need to be fixed.”