Today, immigration reform advocates with United We Dream are holding a mock funeral for the Republican Party to signify the GOP’s impending electoral doom. Republicans know they need to attract more Latino voters to stay viable as a party — yet the House has refused to take action on immigration reform, instead voting in favor of persecuting DREAMers by giving Steve King votes to end DACA. These shortsighted moves, advocates have argued, are going to lead to serious trouble for the GOP. As Greisa Martinez of UWD said in a statement after the funeral procession from the offices of Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn:
We will not cry for the Republican Party. My mother will not cry because there are no tears left to shed. I’ve lived the horror of family separation when my father was deported six years ago and Republican obstructionism and inaction has kept my mother under the same threat, and this will not stand.
The Republican Party’s only objective is to further marginalize our community by trying to pass resolutions that strip refugee children of their rights and our LGBTQ community of their right to seek asylum. The GOP will not stand for us. They will not fight for us. The GOP is dead to the immigrant community.
View some of the photos from the mock funeral:
.@unitedwedream immigration protest with a mock coffin earlier today in Dirksen pic.twitter.com/MzqeN7PaZP
— Bill Clark (@clarkshadows) July 21, 2014
Immigration protest happening now in Dirksen. pic.twitter.com/HVWiU61wXu
— Bill Clark (@clarkshadows) July 21, 2014
.@GOP embraces a political ideology that seeks to mass deport Dreamers & their parents. Today is the #GOPfuneral pic.twitter.com/8klU9L1U5r
— UnitedWeDream.org (@UNITEDWEDREAM) July 21, 2014
Carrying "casket" though Dirksen halls, #Dreamers hold funeral for @GOP on #immigration reform in DC. pic.twitter.com/Zta7n9juVM
— M. Scott Mahaskey (@smahaskey) July 21, 2014
Watch the video of their mock funeral below:
