Several immigration groups along with faith leaders in Ohio have rallied late Thursday to in the hopes of convincing House Speaker John Boehner to act upon the long overdue Immigration Bill, Springfield News-Sun said. Groups who have organized the rally held at the Union Centre Square included Cincinnati Workers Center, UFCW 75, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Ohio Prophetic Voices and Communities United For Citizenship.
Reverend Troy Jackson, who is the director of Ohio Prophetic Voices and The AMOS Project, said, "There's room at the table in our nation for immigrants to be welcomed in our community. There's room for Speaker Boehner and his staff to join us in coming up with solutions of love and justice and welcome for the 11 million undocumented in our land."
The local paper said the groups have extended an invitation to Boehner's office to join them in the rally. However, the organizers have not heard from Boehner's staffers by the time of the event, according to Jackson. He said that a father and daughter team carrying balloons and messages from immigrant families actually went to Boehner's office, and was admitted 20 minutes later and urged Boehner's office to take action.
Jackson stated that an immigration reform bill has already passed by the US Senate in June last year. The House, on the other hand, appeared to be distant about the bill.
On Friday, Boehner's spokeswoman Kara Huck said, "As he has said many times, Congressman Boehner believes step-by-step reform is important, but it won't happen until the president builds trust and demonstrates a commitment to the rule of law. Every time the President ignores the law, like the 38 times he has on Obamacare, our members look up and go, ‘Wait a minute: You can't have immigration reform without strong border security and internal enforcement. How can we trust the President to actually obey the law and enforce the law that we would write?'"
