tags: , , , , , AVEF, Blog

Darrell Issa Staffer Kicks Constituents Out of Meeting Because Group Included Undocumented Immigrants

Share This:

What gives, Darrell Issa??  In February of this year, the conservative Congressman from California had laudable words to say about immigration reform and citizenship, saying:

I think all of us Republicans know that we don’t want a class of residents that will never be offered an opportunity for citizenship. We’re the party of Lincoln, and the party of Lincoln would not accept people living in our country and not being citizens, or not being given the opportunity to become citizens.

But this week, Rep. Issa’s staff kicked constituents out from a scheduled meeting because the group included undocumented immigrants.

Charlene Gomez, with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)–one of the groups that were to meet with Issa–said today in a statement:

We were granted a meeting as a group and we looked forward to simply expressing why we need comprehensive immigration reform. Never did I expect to meet threatening and discriminatory behavior – especially from a representative of someone leading the discussion on immigration. I hope Rep. Issa comes to see what our families go through every day and recognize our contributions to society even when hamstrung by a broken immigration system.

Agreed Kica Matos, Director of Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice for the Center for Community Change:

It is unheard of for a member of Congress to have his staff systematically discriminate against an entire block of members of society – this is straight out of the 1950s. Kicking families out of a scheduled meeting because some guests lack documentation is a deeply disrespectful and offensive action, and brings official discrimination against immigrants in Congress too close to reality.

This is pretty unacceptable behavior for the office of someone who supposedly supports immigration reform.  Rep. Issa, please explain.