Immigration Activists Bash Boehner at L.A. Amnesty Conference

Immigration Activists Bash Boehner at L.A. Amnesty Conference
Adelle Nazarian

LOS ANGELES, California — A conference aimed at informing illegal aliens about the process through which they can attain legal status in the United States under President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty, wasted no time demonizing House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and painting the Republicans as the party of oppression.

“These are the people who want to get in the way of immigration reform and who want to stop the program,” said Angelica Salas, who is the executive director of the Coalition for Human and Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). 

CHIRLA co-sponsored Sunday’s immigration integration event, entitled “Keeping Families Together,” in conjunction with the National Partnership for New Americans at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. Seats were placed for up to 10,000 people. Over 4,000 showed up.  

“Que partidos? Los Republicanos o los Demócratas?” (Translation: “Which party [will you choose]? The Republicans or the Democrats?”) Salas asked rhetorically of the audience after presenting the images of Boehner and McCarthy before images of President Obama signing orders for the the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) programs in the Oval Office appeared on two projection screens (one was in English, the other in Spanish). 

“I came here with my parents who themselves were undocumented,” Salinas said in English before delivering the same message to the audience in Spanish. “I am here in representation of the sacrifice of my parents and the sacrifice of so many other individuals who keep fighting for a better representation, a better standing in this country…All that we’ve earned,” she said.

Boehner has repeatedly pushed for immigration reform, over the objections of conservative members of the Republican caucus. 

Adelle Nazarian is on Twitter @AdelleNaz

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