UFW Members Lend Support to Local Leaders, Who Are Risking Arrest at Rep. Cory Gardner’s Office to Protest His Killing of Immigration Reform
Mariachi Band to Sing “Final Countdown” at Protest to Signal Gardner Has Missed Deadline for Action on Immigration Reform, Constituents Vow to Publicize Across State and Hold Him Accountable
Greeley, CO – As Rep. Cory Gardner has now officially won the Republican nomination for Senate in Colorado, he will have to answer across the state for his votes to deport DREAMers and his blocking the best chance in decades to pass immigration reform. This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Senate passage of a bipartisan immigration bill, one that Gardner would have voted against if he had been a Senator at that time. As a House member, Gardner has been a major force in the Republican caucus that has failed to pass a common sense solution to fix the broken immigration system this year.
After a protest at his office in early June, Rep. Gardner told the AP he supports citizenship for military service, but reform supporters aren’t satisfied. Leaders from his district submitted a letter to Gardner’s office on June 11, asking him to put articulate a solution for the 11 million immigrants currently in the US, but Gardner has been silent.
Declaring that his time is up, leaders from his district will gather for a sit-in and risk arrest to express their deep frustration that families across the state are being separated through deportation because he has blocked immigration reform. Local leaders will be accompanied by United Farm Worker members and a mariachi band to commemorate the end of his window to help pass reform and the beginning of a campaign to ensure every voter in Colorado knows how extreme Gardner’s immigration position really is.
WHAT: Local pastor, farm workers, local leaders to sit-in at Rep. Cory Gardner office to protest his blocking immigration reform
WHEN: Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: 2425 35th Ave., Suite 202
Greeley, CO 80634
Below is the full text of the letter submitted to Rep. Cory Gardner earlier in June:
June 11, 2014
Congressman Cory Gardner
2425 35th Ave., Suite 202
Greeley, CO 80634
Dear Congressman Gardner,
Last week several dozen concerned citizens descended upon your Greeley office to seek action on comprehensive immigration reform. Disappointingly, your response to that delegation continued your pattern of voicing support for immigration reform while not taking meaningful action. Therefore, those citizens join and amplify their voices, with the undersigned, to again urge you to use your power to forge a comprehensive solution to this country’s broken immigration system.
Specifically, we demand that by Monday, June 23 you articulate a concrete policy solution that would deal with all 11 million undocumented immigrants that are estimated to currently reside in the United States.
We reiterate our concern that an immigration policy that forces thousands of undocumented immigrants to live in the shadows is untenable. Here in the 4th District, and throughout the state of Colorado, we continue to see the harmful effects that result from a failure to enact immigration reform. Families are suffering, our schools are suffering, our economy is suffering, and our nation’s values are suffering.
The time to act is now! Your recent support for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who serve in the military is a hopeful sign, but it falls short of a comprehensive policy that accounts for allundocumented immigrants. You have had nearly four years to study the issue and articulate solutions. What we need now is a trail blazing leader, not someone who merely follows the narrow path of partisan politics.
We eagerly await your response. Pastor Nathan Soule-Hill of Family of Christ Presbyterian Church in Greeley will receive correspondence on behalf of the undersigned. You may contact him via e-mail atnathansoulehill@yahoo.com or by phone at (970) 978-8144.
Sincerely,
Family of Christ Presbyterian Church, Greeley
Longmont Youth For Equality
Boulder County Youth for Equality
El Comite of Longmont
Amanecer Fort Morgan
Estrellas of Yuma
Santos of Otero County