A coalition of latinos say they worked for President Barack Obama's re-election and now they're asking for his help: They want comprehensive immigration reform to keep families together.
"We need justice now for 11 million people in this country who overwhelmingly supported the president's reelection and now it’s time for payback," said Gustavo Andrada of Casa In Action today at a rally outside of the White House.
Veronica Savaria lives in Maryland with her family. She campaigned for Maryland's Dream Act which voters approved on Tuesday granting in state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants. But she says she still lives in fear.
"My sister is a citizen. My grandmother is a permanent resident," Savaria said. "My parents, my brother and I are undocumented and we just want to let President Obama know that we're here and we're not giving up on until comprehensive immigration reform is passed."
The group faces a fight. Brad Botwin who heads an orgnaization that opposed the Dream Act says he's against immigration reform. "It’s not about education. It's all about amnesty and Congress has stopped that for 10 years. We don't see that changing. the makeup of Congress has not really changed."
The group of latinos and labor activists will now take their fight to Capitol Hill. "They should have gotten the message this time around that immigrants and latinos came out and voted in big numbers ... and we want no more excuses," Jaime Contreras of SEIU Local 32BJ said. "We want comprehensive immigration reform to be done."
