Many people stood outside the Capitol building on Tuesday, October eighth to push Congress to pass broad immigration legislation, including a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. During this protest eight members of the House of Representatives were arrested due to their participation in the event. Protesting members included Joseph Crowley and Charles B. Rangel of New York, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Al Green of Texas, Luis V. Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona and John Lewis of Georgia. Contrary to popular belief, they were not the only ones arrested; more than 150 other protesters were arrested during the course of the day.
The protest arose due to the government’s full attention on the (now defunct) shutdown and health care reform, a mindset that has pushed the matter of immigration to the backburner. The arrests began while the thousands of people gathering in the middle of the National Mall in support of immigration. Though all “non-essential” government institutions, such as all national parks, museums, and monuments, were supposed to be shut down along with the government, some House Republicans tried to reopen some national parks and monuments while keeping the federal government closed.
The National Mall, a national park with a misleading name, was still open, allowing protests by people from labor unions and immigration organizations to continue. The Parks Services declared that the right to protest was a “First Amendment right,” giving an explanation for the incongruency with the rest of the closed parks in the nation.
The eight Congressional representatives were arrested because they had been standing quietly in a line in the middle of a street that borders the Capitol lawn, blocking traffic in the process. As the police handcuffed them and led them away, protesters began chanting, “Let them go!”
Their efforts paid off around midday when House Democrat leaders broke off from their tense debates inside the Capitol building to tell the people that they would press for a vote on a bill in the House this year. Democrats stated that they were confident that there would be enough votes in the House, from Democrats and Republicans, for such a bill to be passed. There had, in fact, been put forth a bill in the House about a week before the protest that closely matched broad legislation passed by the Senate in June. But that bill had no Republican sponsors and seemed unlikely to advance. Democrats are still putting forth their efforts on the issue of immigration rights with many of the immigration organizations at the rally. Surprisingly, during the rally, a few House Representatives arrived to express their interest in working towards passing immigration laws side by side with the Democrats. We will have to see how, when, and if the House Democrats and/or the House Republicans go through with what they have said, now that the government shutdown has elapsed.
