LOS ANGELES, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Minority Americans, trade unions and human rights groups held a rally Friday in front of Los Angeles City Hall, demanding early immigration reform.
President Barack Obama won his re-election with the support of 70 percent Latino-Americans, 73 percent Asian-Americans and 90 percent African-Americans, Congresswoman Judy Chu told the participants.
"These communities are here to speak loud and clear that they want a president who will push for immigration reform and indeed he has promised that he will make this his top priority," Chu said. "We can not wait for another year to fix the broken immigration system."
The appeal was echoed by Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), a nonprofit organization.
One of Obama's mandates is "to make real a path to citizenship" for the 11 million immigrants and "do everything in his power to stop the deportations of good and decent people," said Salas.
With Democrats and Republicans having come to recognize the moral, economic and political imperatives to improve the immigration process, the new Congress is deemed to be the best opportunity for broad immigration reform in nearly a decade.
A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground poll finds that 62 percent of those surveyed support an immigration reform proposal that would allow illegal or undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship over a period of several years, while 35 percent oppose it.
The national poll also reveals that 77 percent support an immigration law that allows the children of illegal or undocumented immigrants to earn the right to stay permanently if they complete a college degree or serve in the military, while just 19 percent oppose this key element of the so-called DREAM Act.
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