www.RioGrandeGuardian.com Thursday, May 18, 2006

 LUPE members deliver thousands of postcards to Cornyn's office

17 May 2006
Steve Taylor
 

HARLINGEN - Members of La Unión del Pueblo Entero delivered close on 3,500 signed postcards to the Harlingen office of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, calling for “comprehensive, humane, and realistic” immigration reform.

Delivery of the postcards coincided with debate on the U.S. Senate floor of a controversial immigration reform bill.

The postcard campaign is part of a national effort by pro-immigrant groups under the Alliance We Are America banner. LUPE members said they collected the 3,500 signatures in little over a week. They said they aim to collect 20,000 by the time a large national pro-immigrant rally takes place in Washington, D.C., on Labor Day.

“We want Senator Cornyn to be conscientious and to realize that we are real people not just numbers and statistics,” said LUPE member Enrique Sauceda. “We want an immigration reform to adjust legal status, so that we may work with dignity and stop hiding and being afraid.”

Cornyn spokesman John Drogin said Cornyn supported comprehensive immigration reform and introduced a bill last year to provide that. “He's always happy to hear from constituents as he's been doing across the state over the last few years,” Drogin said.

The postcards call on Cornyn to enact “realistic and humane” immigration reform. Such legislation, the postcard states, would include a path to legal residency for hardworking immigrants and their families and provide an effective visa program for future immigrants that protects their rights.

LUPE also wants any new legislation to allow families to stay together, protect the rights of workers regardless of their immigration status, and not criminalize immigrants or their allies. “Our immigration laws and our leaders should recognize that immigrants strengthen our economy and contribute to the fabric of this country,” the postcards state.
 
Leticia Sanchez, a LUPE member, said decisions taken in Congress on immigration reform would directly impact her. Ten years ago the 35-year-old mother of three left her children in Mexico City in search of work in the United States. She has returned to see her family just once, when she went back to bring her children to the United States.

Sanchez said her story could be viewed as the embodiment of the American Dream. She and her husband have a successful upholstery business and a beautiful home. Grateful for the support of LUPE, the couple tends to the union’s yard on weekends.

“We come to the States to work hard and have a better future for our families, and if we succeed we are able to better contribute to this country,” Sanchez said. “That’s exactly why we need the opportunity to adjust legal status.” 

During Wednesday’s Senate debate on an immigration reform bill, Cornyn voted for an amendment by U.S. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, to build a construct at least 370 miles of triple-layered fence and 500 miles of vehicle barriers at strategic locations along the southwest border. The amendment passed 83-16.

The Senate unanimously passed an amendment by Cornyn and Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, that would prevent felons and repeat offenders from receiving amnesty or citizenship.

“This amendment passed with overwhelming, bipartisan support, yet just a few weeks ago the minority leader wouldn’t even allow a vote on it because it was not, it in his opinion, a good amendment,” said Cornyn, chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee.
“But this amendment simply closes a loophole and strengthens the bill, and it will help keep Americans safe by ensuring that no felons or repeat criminal offenders will receive amnesty or citizenship.”
 
The amendment would also deny amnesty to illegal immigrants who were ordered deported but then went underground and never left the country or did leave the country but then reentered illegally - both of those actions are criminal acts under current law.
 
“We need to decide whether we are more interested in granting amnesty than we are in reforming the immigration laws and restoring confidence in our immigration system,” Cornyn said. “Without this amendment, the current bill would encourage further violations of immigration law, and undermine the integrity of our immigration system.”

Asked why her group was targeting Cornyn in particular, LUPE Director Juanita Valdez-Cox said Texas’ junior senator had not embraced comprehensive immigration reform. She said Cornyn’s proposal that all undocumented immigrants return to their country of origin before being allowed back into the United States would cause tremendous hardship for immigrant families.

“The senator does not seem to be listening,” Valdez-Cox said. We are going to give him an excellent opportunity to listen to the story of our immigrants. These are the people he represents.”

© Copyright of Rio Grande Guardian, www.riograndeguardian.com; Melinda Barrera, 2006. All rights reserved.