WASHINGTON -- Latino leaders gave a warning Wednesday to members of Congress who oppose comprehensive immigration reform: voters are watching, and they won't forget how lawmakers act on the issue next time they go to the polls.
Eight Latino groups will soon begin a campaign to pressure politicians from both parties to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship, they announced. And they're confident they can succeed, given increased political interest after the 2012 election.
"Immigration reform will happen," Eliseo Medina, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, said at a press conference Wednesday. "Whether it will happen over the political bodies ... of some of the current members of Congress, only they can decide. They will come to vote for immigration reform."
"They can come out of their own will because it's the right thing to do or they can come kicking and screaming, but they will come," Medina continued. "I guarantee that."
The groups -- National Council of La Raza, Service Employees International Union, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Mi Familia Vota, Voto Latino, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Hispanic Federation and NALEO Educational Fund -- plan to bring their members and supporters to Washington in 2013 in order to push lawmakers on immigration reform. They will also launch letter-writing campaigns, petitions and actions to encourage support.
Among the groups' biggest threats, though, is a plan to keep scorecards for politicians, tracking their immigration votes and statements. They promised to widely publicize the scores within the Latino community next time those lawmakers are up for reelection.
"It's up to us to teach our community that now that they went to the ballot box, it's okay to ask for something in return," Voto Latino CEO and president Maria Teresa Kumar said. "If [politicians] are not with us, 2014 may not look too pretty for them."
A strong majority of Latino voters support comprehensive immigration reform, and a number of Republicans changed their stance on the issue after the 2012 elections, when Latino voters came out in record numbers to support President Barack Obama.
Still, some Republicans argue that immigration reform must be done in a piecemeal fashion. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who many expect to help lead a reform effort within the Senate, has said the issue should be addressed in a set of bills rather than comprehensively, as has Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), a potential leader in the House.
But the coalition leaders strongly rejected the idea of breaking up immigration issues.
"I can tell you here that all of these leaders, including myself, are very committed to having one comprehensive immigration reform bill, and that is going to be key," National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguia said to applause from the other group leaders on stage.
They said they will target both Democrats and Republicans, but the GOP may be more likely to get the brunt of their efforts. Murguia declined to say who would top the list, but said they will speak to members who supported comprehensive immigration reform in the past, those who are from districts with a large number of Latinos and those who are new to Congress.
She said she expects a bill to come up before the August congressional recess next year.
Their biggest hope, though, is that both parties can be pressured to finally agree on immigration reform.
"We welcome everybody into this battle, Republicans and Democrats," Medina said. "By god, maybe they could get a kumbaya moment."
The Naturalization Act of 1790
The Naturalization Act of 1790 was our country's first set of laws dealing with citizenship. Applicants had to be "a free white person" of "good moral character." This excluded indentured servants and slaves. Good moral character was substantiated by establishing residence for at least one year in the state from where he was applying, and at least two years of residence in the country. The Naturalization Act of 1795 would extend that requirement to five years, and is still standard today.
The Fourteenth Amendment, 1868
A Reconstruction Amendment that was added to the U.S. Constitution following the Civil War, the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment establishes for the first time that children born on U.S. soil would be conferred U.S. citizenship regardless of their parent's citizenship status, race, or place of birth. Last year, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 to Congress, and challenged this. The bill would require that at least one parent be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident for a child to be granted citizenship. According to the bill's text, the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, and "clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth." Prior to this, Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) introduced a similar bill in 2009.
The Naturalization Act of 1870
The Naturalization Act of 1870 explicitly extended naturalization laws to "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent." This meant that for the first time, African-American children would be conferred citizenship upon birth. Asian immigrants and other people of color are excluded per the Naturalization Acts of 1790 and 1795.
The Page Act of 1875
Named after Republican Representative Horace F. Page, this is the first U.S. federal immigration law to explicitly prohibit the immigration of a particular group: persons of Asian descent. Primarily meant to limit Chinese immigrant labor and prostitution, the Page Act prohibited the immigration of: (1) contracted labor from "China, Japan, or any Oriental country" that was not "free and voluntary," (2) Chinese prostitution and (3) criminals and women who would engage in prostitution. Ultimately, the Page Act severely restricted the immigration of Asian women. Only 136 of the the nearly 40,000 Chinese immigrants who arrived in the months before the bill's enforcement were women. And, it would pave the way for the Chinese Exclusion Act. In this picture, Michael Lin, chair of the 1882 Project, a coalition of rights groups seeking a statement of regret over that year's Chinese Exclusion Act, speaks on May 26, 2011 in Washington, DC, at the US House of Representatives in front of a reproduction of a 19th-century sign that aimed at rousing up sentiment against Chinese Americans. Lawmakers introduced a bill that would offer an official statement of regret for the act, which banned further immigration of Chinese to the United States and ended citizenship rights for ethnic Chinese. (AFP PHOTO/SHAUN TANDON).
The Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882
Signed by President Chester A. Arthur, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first federal immigration law to prohibit immigration on the basis of race. The bill barred all Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled, from immigrating to the U.S. for ten years. It was made permanent by 1903, and was not lifted until the 1943 Magnuson Act. The 1898 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark finally extended naturalization laws to persons of Chinese descent by ruling that anyone born in the United States was indeed a U.S. citizen. This editorial cartoon from 1882 shows a Chinese man being excluded from entry to the "Golden Gate of Liberty." The sign next to the iron door reads, "Notice--Communist, Nihilist, Socialist, Fenian & Hoodlum welcome. But no admittance to Chinamen." At the bottom, the caption reads, "THE ONLY ONE BARRED OUT. Enlightened American Statesman--'We must draw the line somewhere, you know.'" (Image Source: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, vol. 54 (1882 April 1), p. 96. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons).
The Naturalization Act of 1906
The Naturalization Act of 1906 further defined the naturalization process: the ability to speak English was made a requisite for immigrants to adjust their status.
The Immigration Act of 1924
U.S. President Coolidge signed this U.S. federal bill into law. It capped the number of immigrants who could be admitted entry to the U.S. and barred immigration of persons who were not eligible for naturalization. And, as the Naturalization Act of 1790 required, an immigrant had to be white in order to naturalize. The quotas varied by country. Image Source: Flickr Creative Commons, NYCMarines.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (The McCarran-Walter Act)
The McCarran-Walter Act kept up the controversial Immigration Act of 1924, but formally ended Asian exclusion.
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, it abolished the quota system that favored immigration from Europe and limited immigration from Asia and South America.
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) is a piece of legislation that defined an array of issues to do with legal and illegal immigration -- from outlining how border patrol agents should administer visa processing, to the minutiae of how to handle deportation proceedings -- IIRIRA established enforcement and patrolling practices.
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![Signed by President Chester A. Arthur, the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/seven/chinxact.htm " target="_hplink">Chinese Exclusion Act</a> was the first federal immigration law to prohibit immigration on the basis of race. The bill barred all Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled, from immigrating to the U.S. for ten years. It was made permanent by 1903, and was not lifted until the 1943 Magnuson Act. The 1898 Supreme Court <a href="http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/exclusion.html " target="_hplink">decision</a> in <em>United States v. Wong Kim Ark</em> finally extended naturalization laws to persons of Chinese descent by ruling that anyone born in the United States was indeed a U.S. citizen. This editorial cartoon from 1882 shows a Chinese man being excluded from entry to the "Golden Gate of Liberty." The sign next to the iron door reads, "Notice--Communist, Nihilist, Socialist, Fenian & Hoodlum welcome. But no admittance to Chinamen." At the bottom, the caption reads, "THE ONLY ONE BARRED OUT. Enlightened American Statesman--'We must draw the line <em>somewhere</em>, you know.'" (Image Source: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, vol. 54 (1882 April 1), p. 96. [Public domain], via <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_only_one_barred_out_cph.3b48680.jpg" target="_hplink">Wikimedia Commons</a>).](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/7fXkatUGJ4yoqKwCbmm0yg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5bae6a412200003501daf2ce.jpg)
