Local advocates press Obama for immigration fix

As if President Obama didn't have enough on his plate with health care and a lagging economy, immigrant advocates are turning up the heat, demanding he deliver on promises to fix immigration this year — not next — and that his plan include a legal path for millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

The pressure is coming from many quarters — from businesses and labor groups, economists and religious leaders, including some Evangelicals and conservative groups.

"People are angry across the country," Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, a local immigrant-advocacy group, said at a news conference Thursday.

"They are tired of being disappointed; tired of being made promises to," she told dozens of other advocates attending the event. "What we're seeing now is the intensity of those who are suffering. We cannot stand and look aside as we continue to deal with a broken immigration system."

Thursday's event was a send-off of sorts for Jayapal and 49 others who are heading to Washington, D.C., for an immigration rally Sunday that's expected to draw tens of thousands of supporters.

And it came on the same day Obama announced his support for the outline of a Senate immigration bill that addresses border security, creates a process for admitting temporary workers, and requires illegal immigrants to admit they broke the law to gain legal status.

Priorities changed

Obama had promised during his campaign that he'd make immigration reform a priority in his first year. But by the time he delivered his State of the Union address in January, job creation, health care and war were becoming increasingly urgent issues, and he was making only passing references to the need to change the nation's immigration system.

Sunday's rally will come a week after he sat down with immigrant advocates to discuss their call for change.

NumbersUSA, a national group that advocates for tighter immigration controls, plans four days of protest activity around Sunday's march, with the message "Congress should focus on putting 25 million Americans back to full-time work, not offering amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens."

Seattle City Council members Richard Conlin, Nick Licata and Mike O'Brien, who co-sponsored a unanimously passed resolution urging passage of immigration reform, joined Jayapal and the D.C.-bound delegation at Thursday's news conference. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell both have written Obama urging him to make immigration a priority this year and promising their support. Additionally, 50 Washington state lawmakers signed a letter in support of reform, as did King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

The immigration bill, by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, is expected to be introduced soon.

Keep pressure on

Louis Desipio, associate professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, said it's important for immigrant advocates to keep the pressure on the president — even if the odds are against full passage of a comprehensive immigration plan this year.

"It keeps the administration honest ... on commitments made that are not being honored," he said.

Desipio said because reform is not a clearly partisan issue, it won't be an easy sell — not something the president could push through Congress "without losing a third of his own party."

For a measure to have a chance, he said, support for it must cross party lines. "That's unlikely in an election year ... and with the current political climate in Washington, where Republicans seem unwilling to support anything that Obama is supporting."

It is possible, he said, that Congress might schedule immigration hearings this year to start the debate — pushing any final action into a safer political year. Or, once health care has been resolved, he said, Congress might consider not a full reform package but more of a piecemeal approach that advocates might support.

Celeste Addai, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen who has been living apart from her husband for the last three years, is hoping that any legislation would reunite her family.

She said her husband, a Ghanaian, came to the U.S. on a student visa about 20 years ago and later applied for asylum. But after his petition was denied, he ignored a judge's order to leave the country and became a fugitive.

He escaped an immigration raid on their Issaquah home and has been living in the shadows — away from her and their 5-year-old son.

"I look forward to the day when I can sit down with my husband and child and have dinner once again like we did before we were raided," she said. "When my husband can work and contribute to this society once again."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com