Moments ago, five Virginia Organizing leaders, including two State Governing Board members, were arrested at Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner’s Washington, D.C. office while taking a stand in support of immigration reform.
Speaker Boehner would rather have people arrested than meet with us on immigration reform. Will you call him at 888-845-2087 to tell him we need a vote on immigration reform?
Community leaders from Virginia Organizing chose to visit Speaker Boehner’s office because of his failure to act on immigration reform. Virginia Organizing joined young people from Michigan, Alabama, Oregon, and California to stand in solidarity and risk arrest in support of comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.
For nearly two years, House leadership has ignored letters, phone calls, emails, and other communications. Today, Virginia Organizing showed Speaker Boehner, House leadership, and the rest of Congress that we are not backing down from immigration reform. In keeping with the history of civil disobedience in the fight for civil rights, Virginians are willing to be arrested to stand for justice for all people.
Most recently, under Speaker Boehner’s leadership, the House leaders blocked a bill from being voted on that would have allowed undocumented young people serving in the military a path to earn their citizenship.
In the changing political landscape, it is more important than ever before for Speaker Boehner to be a leader and allow immigration reform to come to the House floor for a vote.
Virginia Organizing will not rest until comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship is achieved. We need real reforms to fix our failing immigration system—reforms that will provide a path to earned citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, a more streamlined process for future immigration to encourage lawful immigration, and greater security for our nation. We cannot leave millions of people who are already living and working in the U.S. out in the cold.
Please call Speaker Boehner at 888-845-2087 to tell him we deserve a vote on immigration reform with a path to citizenship!
Thank you for all your work and for standing in solidarity with those who have been arrested. We will keep you posted as the story develops.
Sincerely,
Ladelle McWhorter
Virginia Organizing Vice-Chairperson
P.S. If you would like to make a donation to support our ongoing organizing work, please click here to be taken to our secure donation page.
