LOS ANGELES (Border Report) — Immigration advocates have taken to the streets outside the Summit of the Americas demanding immigration reform.
On Wednesday and Thursday, they walked along Figueroa Street in front of the Los Angeles Convention Center where the event is taking place this week.
They chanted, “Biden escucha, estamos en la lucha.” It doesn’t rhyme in English but it means, “Biden listen, we’re in this struggle.”
“Biden made that promise to all the people … that’s why he is there, he is in the capital, we need to do something,” said Juan Hernandez, one of the demonstrators.
Hernandez emphasized he and other demonstrators were seeking immigration reform for those who are migrating to the United States in the future and for migrants already here.
“Many people don’t understand, it’s a lot of people that are already here that don’t have papers, don’t have immigration status, DACA and all that,” said Hernandez. “It’s not just people coming, it’s people that are already here that want a better life.”
Hernandez told Border Report the time to create immigration reform is now, at the summit, because President Biden and most leaders from throughout the Western Hemisphere are at the event.
“That’s why we’re here telling Biden we need immigration reform,” he said.
The White House has indicated that Biden will make a declaration, with support from other countries, on immigration this Friday during the last day of the summit.
Critics of the president say an agreement is highly unlikely since the leaders of Mexico and the Northern Triangle, which includes El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua aren’t attending the summit.
The four countries have sent representatives to the event. In Mexico’s case, it sent Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
