Dear Florida Voices for Immigration Reform Member:
During this summer, FVIR sent letters to Florida Representatives, Webster, Southerland II, Yoho, C.W.Young and De Santis urging them to tackle immigration reform in a bi partisan fashion as soon as possible.
We have also sent letters to the Chief of Staff of Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi. We will be sending letters to Representatives Diaz Balart, Rooney and Cantor next week and plan to write letters to all Florida Representatives in the next two weeks. We shared with all of you the letter we sent on our last e mail to the group on July 16, 2013. In the letter we enclosed the August 2010 letter FVIR sent the bi-partisan deficit committee urging them to tackle immigration reform as a way to reduce the deficit.
We have been working closely with the National Immigration Forum initiative, Bibles, Badges and Business www.bbbimmigration.org. In the last conference call with them, we found out groups such as ours and BBB were effective in our advocacy efforts during the August recess and that our message is being heard in Congress. We also found out that there is much hope that immigration reform legislation will be taken up by the House of Representatives, anytime from mid-October to Thanksgiving.
Things seem to be moving in the House of Representatives despite the fact that the bi-partisan group of seven-that had been working on a bi-partisan bill in the House fell through. Chairman Goodlatte of the House Judiciary Committee has pledged that Republicans will be introducing bills to tackle immigration reform soon. The Democrats in the House, under the leadership of Rep. Pelosi, introduced their own bill October 2,2013.
We will continue to do our behind the scenes work to act as a bridge between both parties wit the hope that immigration reform is acted upon before December 2013.
If you want to reach out to us with ideas or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us. If anyone of you or your organization wants to travel to Washington DC in the next month to go to the Hill, please let us know so we can plan an FVIR Congressional delegation. You can contact Pastor Monica Delgado at modelgado07@aol.com.
Sincerely,
Gary Walk, Co-Chair FVIR
Pastor Monica Delgado, Co -Chair FVIR
Aileen Josephs, Co-Chair FVIR
