Reid rallies for immigration reform in Las Vegas

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and a group of allies rallied the faithful Monday as the battle to pass comprehensive immigration reform moves to the House of Representatives.

“We’re only halfway done, folks,” Reid told a crowd of about 500 at the headquarters of the Culinary Union Local 226 in Las Vegas.

The Senate passed the bipartisan reform bill Thursday on a vote of 68-32, but it faces an uphill battle in the Republican-led House. Reid and Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., both voted yes.

Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has so far refused to bring the issue up for a vote. House Republicans have said they will take on immigration with their own bills.

Many Republicans oppose the so-called “pathway to citizenship,” calling it an amnesty program that would end up rewarding people who broke the law to immigrate here.

The reform passed by the Senate, said to be the most comprehensive in a generation, would create a path to allow undocumented immigrants to become citizens. It would also allow more skilled workers into the country and, in a provision added to appease Republicans, require 20,000 more agents along the border with Mexico.

It would halt many deportations, too, which backers say is splitting up families. Non-citizen adults can be deported while their American citizen children remain in the United States.

The bill was written by the so-called gang of eight, a group of four Republicans and four Democrats. Reid said the bill was “not perfect, but it’s damn good.”

The crowd chanted “Har-ry, Har-ry,” and “Si se puede,” a popular union chant that roughly translates to “yes, it can be done.”

In addition to Reid, Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, union leaders, and representatives of local chambers of commerce spoke in favor of the reform bill.

“This is the right thing to do,” said Otto Merida, president of the Latin Chamber. He noted that he is an immigrant, originally from Cuba, and said he’s also a Republican.

“The Republican party has to come through us,” he said.

Titus said the rally was intended to send a message. “We’ve got to get immigration reform done and done now,” she said.

Reid said he’d spent more time on the immigration issue than on any other during his time in Congress. He said he was proud to finally have passed a bill that would stop employers from taking advantage of workers who are afraid to report them to the authorities.

“That is over with, folks,” he said.

“Speaker Boehner cannot stand in the way of what the American people want and are going to demand,” he said.

Guest speaker Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., took on an even more combative tone. He said there is agreement among business leaders and immigrants rights advocates that the bill is needed. Only House Republicans, he said, oppose it.

“Stop giving us your failed, discarded policies of the past,” said Gutierrez, a longtime immigration reform advocate.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.