Promise Arizona, a Phoenix-based immigrants’ rights group, delivered more than 1,000 “Valentine Wishes” from registered voters to the state’s U.S.Senators and seven of its Members of Congress. As Congress begins its debate over immigration reform, federal legislators will be asked by immigrant families to consider the suffering they have faced under current immigration policy.
“Bring my Sweetheart Back Day of Action” is part of a national campaign called Keeping Families Together organized by the national immigrants’ rights coalition Fair Immigration Reform Movement and the Center for Community Change. Promise Arizona is among dozens of grassroots groups in Arizona and hundreds more nationwide working in support of fair and humane immigration reform.
“We all have loved ones we think about on Valentine’s Day,” said Promise Arizona Executive Director Petra Falcon. “We think it’s appropriate to remind our most influential political leaders that the policy they’re about to reshape will affect the lives—for the better, we hope—of millions of men, women and children, many of whom have been separated from the people they love because of our broken immigration system.”
“Bring my Sweetheart Back Day of Action” kicks off with a press conference at 10 a.m., today, Feb. 14, outside of the office of U.S. John McCain, 2201 E Camelback Rd #115, Phoenix, AZ.
Immigrant families will be on hand to deliver copies of more than 1,000 “Valentine Wishes” in the form of letters to each of the senators as part of the first leg of a Valley-wide tour of Congressional district offices. The “Valentine Wishes” also will be delivered to RepublicanU.S. Representatives Matt Salmon, David Schweikert and Trent Franks, and Democratic U.S. Representatives Ed Pastor, Kyrsten Sinema, Raul Grijalva and Ann Kirkpatrick.
GBT DREAMers Ask Senator Marco Rubio Not to Leave them Behind
On this Valentine’s Day, LGBT immigrants with the group GetEQUAL — a national civil rights organization fighting for the full equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans — are asking Senate Marco Rubio not to leave them out of an immigration reform bill that is currently moving through Congress. While most loving couples will be celebrating, LGBT immigrants and their partners have to choose between the country they love and the person they love.
«LGBT immigrants are caught in the perfect storm — we live in a country that doesn’t recognize our marriages and the broken immigration system leave us without a pathway to citizenship,» says Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, GetEQUAL’s National Field Director. «I grew up here and became undocumented while a young man. Even though I’m married to permanent resident, I’m still not able to adjust my immigration status.»
Undocumented LGBT community members and allies will gather to take action outside Senator Marco Rubio’sFloridaheadquarters inOrlando. They will ask questions about Senator Rubio’s position on a clear pathway to citizenship, asylum rules, the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), and the end of harsh enforcement policies.
«Like Harvey Milk stated, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, everyone deserves the right to live in an environment that allows them to reach their full potential,» stated GetEQUAL member and DREAM Act student Marco Antonio Quiroga. «It is time to start creating that kind of environment for our queer, undocumented brothers and sisters.»
