The following is a press release from AFL-CIO:
Labor Federation mobilizes workers to pressure House Republicans to pass immigration reform with roadmap to citizenship and workers’ rights
Efforts tie into coalition “Cost of Inaction” mobilizations
Today the AFL-CIO announced the release of new, hard hitting television ads that call out Republicans for obstructing comprehensive immigration reform, citing anti-immigrant statements by Republican lawmakers. In addition to the ads, labor will launch in-district mobilizations to increase pressure on House Republicans to support immigration reform with a roadmap to citizenship and protection of workers’ rights. Providing 11 million aspiring Americans with the chance to come out of the shadows and contribute to our communities will protect the rights of all workers, the AFL-CIO has said.
These ads represent the next step of the labor movement’s unprecedented nationwide campaign to reform the nation’s broken immigration system and create equal access to the American Dream. The ads will run in Spanish and target districts with large Latino constituencies in Bakersfield, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Atlanta, Ga.; and Orlando, Fla. The ads will also be broadcast in English in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
The time for acting on immigration reform is now, and the labor movement has decided to throw down in a big way to make it happen. Every day, over 1,000 people are deported, while House Republicans refuse to act on immigration reform with a roadmap to citizenship and workers’ rights. We won’t stop until the deportation crisis ends and aspiring Americans have the roadmap to citizenship they deserve.
Online actions and mobilization by the labor movement will tie into coalition actions targeting nine key House Republicans as part of the “Cost of Inaction” campaign.
Said AFL-CIO Los Angeles Labor Federation head Maria Elena Durazo:
I have been working on this since the days of Governor Pete Wilson in California when he tried to demonize immigrants back in the early 1990s. We know what happened. We saw how that worked out. The time to act is now. Or the Republican Party may never again be able to get support from immigrant communities.
Watch the ads below: