Immigration Activists to Protest Schumer on April 2 for “Extreme Positions on Immigration Reform”

Apr 1, 2013
8:49 PM

As first reported by The New York Daily News, “several immigrant rights and Latino groups” are planning a noontime protest tomorrow in front of the New York office of Senator Chuck Schumer as well as other events around the country to raise awareness about Schumer’s “extreme positions on immigration.” News of the protest events comes a day after Schumer said that the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Eight has reached a “substantive agreement” on immigration reform.

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Here is what The Daily News story said:

The groups fault Schumer, the lead Democrat in immigration talks and Chair of a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on immigration, for making border security a key to immigration reform, for supporting national I.D. cards, for his acceptance of campaign contributions by people linked to private prison companies that help incarcerate undocumented immigrants, and even for his rhetoric.

Schumer “regularly uses the term ‘illegals’ and ‘illegal immigrants’ instead of ‘undocumented,’” said Gabriela Garcia, of Presente.org, one of the groups organizing the protest.

“He really hasn’t pushed for the side of immigrant families,” Garcia said. “He hasn’t tried to bring Republicans over to this side. It’s been like totally agreeing to these right-wing measures from the very beginning.”

Garcia argued Latinos who voted overwhelmingly for Democrats last year are “not asking for increased border security.”

A release shared with the media included the following:

The actions will center in New York, where over 100 people will be outside Schumer’s New York City office to deliver over 30K signatures asking him to return donations. In Manhattan, Albany, Westchester, Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn teams of actvisits will be walking Latino neighborhoods hanging door hangers to inform voters on Senator Schumer’s alarming immigration record, including his support for national ID cards, his push for hard line border security and, especially, his willingness to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars from private immigration prisons. Activists in different US cities will denounce Schumer’s approach to immigration reform, which prioritizes enforcement over real immigration reform centered on family unity. Following tomorrow’s actions, the New York campaign will continue with volunteers walking the 5 boroughs to inform voters and the Latino community on Schumer’s immigration record.

The release also called for Schumer to return political donations that he has received from immigrant prison industry. Meanwhile The Daily News story also obtained comment from Schumer’s office:

Schumer’s camp says critics ignore the need for compromise.

“Senator Schumer is working tirelessly to craft the best comprehensive bill that provides a path to citizenship, accelerates family reunification, establishes a coherent policy that ends illegal immigration and allows for future legal immigration – and that can be passed into law, ” Schumer spokesman Max Young said.

Schumer recently pushed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to limit to limit solitary confinement in its detention facilities, or face congressional action on the issue.

Here is a list of the groups organizing the protests: Migrant Power Alliance, Presente.org, Dream Action Coalition, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, National Alliance for Latino and Caribbean Communities, CRECEN.