Climbing the Hill for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Courtesy of Francesca Faccani

By Francesca Faccani 

CUA Sol (Society of Latinos) and College Democrats went to the office houses on Capitol Hill and hand-delivered 456 constituent letters signed by CUA students that advocated for comprehensive immigration reform last Friday. The signatures were collected last semester in December as an answer to the organization Bread for the World’s call to action. 

Bread for the World, the organization behind the project, is a national non-profit with a Christian vocation and focuses on ending hunger in America and all over the world. While its advocacy is mainly concentrated on providing nutritional aid to those in need— mediating between the citizens and government by organizing campaigns— its concerns also include immigration reform. As stated on its homepage, Bread for the World is believes that immigration is a hunger issue because migrants leave their home countries to escape hunger and poverty.

Esther Paulino, President of CUA Sol, has been particularly committed to the project because immigration is a topic she personally has at heart, coming from a family of Dominican immigrants. 

“Immigration, a word that encompasses more than an action or a decision in life, became a passion of mine ever since I realized its effects,” Paulino said. “I always knew I had a voice and I promised myself I would never let anyone take it away from me.”

Paulino embarked on the mission pitched by Bread for the World, not only for herself but also in the name of her organization, with the goal of giving members of Sol their sense of voice back and to advocate for an issue that is relevant to them.

Sophia Marsden, the College Democrats communications director, also actively took part in the project, and shared her opinion on what comprehensive immigration reform should be like.

“People looking to immigrate to the United States, particularly people of color, are subject to a process of waiting, endless legal hoops, and a lack of services available while awaiting status updates and the proper documents,” Marsden said. “In order to save people’s lives and wellbeing, a much quicker and simpler process is necessary, for example, a clear and easy pathway for Dreamers and TPS recipients.”

This particular initiative was incentivized by last year’s sudden cutting of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which offers foreign aid for the Northern Triangle countries: Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. According to Bread for the World, the cutting of funds will only “force people to flee their homes and thus increase migration.” 

Last year, when Bread for the World reached out to CUA organizations through the Center for Cultural Engagement asking for active engagement in the project, CUA Sol and College Democrats answered the call. Together, last December they organized an all-day-long petition drive to collect constituent letters from CUA students. The letters were pre written by the organization: students signed their names and addressed the letters to their own senator and representatives. 

Joshua Klein, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, helped the students involved in the project by training them for the last step: the distribution of the constituent letters to Congress (both the Senate and House of Representatives). “The Climb” started on January 10, and was finalized on February 20, when the last letter was delivered in Longworth House Office Building.

Tommy Gambino, president of the College Democrats, is particularly fond of his organization’s involvement in the project.

“College Democrats is always looking for every opportunity to foster an atmosphere of activism on campus and we’re very lucky to get to host a lot of political social events, but we’re always looking for times to do more professional based activism,” Gambino said. “This is such an important issue. The fact that 450 students signed on is clearly a sign that it matters to many. We’re just very happy we were able to help out and be a part of this.”

As Gambino observed, the Climb the Hill event and delivering the letters was in a way similar to canvassing, proving out that personal contact is now more than ever a pivotal aspect of political campaigning. 

Paulino is very optimistic about the future evolution of this advocacy project. 

“This project is only the beginning of the change our generation and organization will have in our country,” Paulino said. “I can’t wait to see it all unfold before me.”