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BY JOE MARVILLI Staff Writer

Elected officials and civic leaders came together in Flushing to demand comprehensive immigration reform, not next year, not eventually, but right now.

U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Melville) was joined by civic leaders and elected officials from northeast Queens to call for a vote in the House of Representatives on immigration reform. According to the Congressman, the bill is being blocked from coming to the floor by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). The group was calling for Boehner to let the bill get a vote.

H.R. 15, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, has 199 co-sponsors, three of them Republicans. Israel said that another 30 Republicans have said they support immigration reform.

U.S. Rep. Steve Israel was joined by civic leaders S.J. Jung, Yen Chou and Steve Choi, as well as assembly members Ron Kim and Nily Rozic and State Sen. Toby Stavisky, in his call for immigration reform. Photo by Joe Marvilli

It would grow our economy. It would secure our borders. It would unite families. It would create pathways to citizenship. It would support small businesses in Flushing and throughout the country, he said. My constituents want there to be a vote. Theres no more excuses and no reason to delay it.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would reduce that national deficit by $900 billion over 20 years. Besides the economic benefits, the reform would reduce the mass deportations throughout the country that has separated families.

House Republicans are turning deaf ears to Americans. They are also turning cold shoulders to the sufferings of immigrants, whose families are torn apart, whose dreams are shattered by our nations broken immigration system, S.J. Jung, president of the MinKwon Center for Community Action, said. We will not rest until we break through Republican opposition. Immigration reform is not just about immigrants. Its about our nations future.

Two of the assembly members on hand at the rally, Nily Rozic (D-Hillcrest) and Ron Kim (D-Flushing), are first-generation Americans. Both of them argued that everyone deserves the same opportunities they had when they came to this country.

At the State level, were doing whatever we can to make sure were a strong voice for immigrant rights and immigrant reform, Kim said.

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Elected Officials Call For Immigration Reform

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By Cherri Gregg

SPRINGFIELD (Delaware County), Pa. (CBS) Fast for Families is a movement for immigration reform that started at the Capitol in DC last fall.

Now they are taking the show on the road, in a decorated bus, making stops in the Greater Philadelphia area.

A small but enthusiastic group of protesters stood outside of US Rep. Pat Meehans office in Springfield (Delaware County) today, holding signs and demanding that he get off the fence by voting for comprehensive immigration reform.

Weve been calling on people to fast because now is the time, said Lisa Sharon Harper (at lectern in photo), who works for the DC-based Sojourners.

Harper says she and many others fasted for 22 days last November just feet from the US Capitol. And she says their effort caused lawmakers to come to their tent and listen to the stories of immigrants.

Harper says the response encouraged Fast for Families to take their effort on the road to spread the word.

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National Fast For Families Visits Philadelphia Area, Promoting Immigration Reform

Tech companies need to stand together and support comprehensive immigration reform, and not just changes to the H-1B program for specialist workers, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin wrote in a letter to prominent technology executives on Tuesday.

The letter addressed to the CEOs of Microsoft, Facebook, Intel and Google among other companies urged them not to support stand-alone legislation raising the cap on the H-1B visa. A total of 85,000 such visas will be distributed this year, and applications opened April 1.

It is important to note that technology companies are not the only ones who are being hurt by our broken immigration system, Durbin wrote in the letter. American workers continue to suffer with immigration laws that allow unscrupulous employers to game the system and import cheap foreign labor.

The issue of the H-1B visas, which tech companies say help attract talent from around the world, has gained new traction with the formation of tech-backed groups like Mark Zuckerbergs FWD.us, which supports comprehensive immigration reform. In a Washington Post op-ed published in 2013, Zuckerberg specifically mentioned H-1Bs, writing that each visa-holder helps create two to three new American jobs. The Facebook founder went on to voice support for comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship, among other measures.

"FWD.us remains deeply committed to fixing our badly broken immigration system by helping pass a comprehensive legislative solution that will boost economic growth, create American jobs, and do right by American families -- and we know that the time is now for House Republicans to take action," FWD.us communications director Kate Hansen said in an email on Wednesday.

While his letter was addressed to the CEOs of household-name technology companies, Durbin also directed his message Tuesday to Republicans in Congress, writing that an over-emphasis on the issue of H-1Bs destroys the delicate political balance achieved in our bipartisan bill and calls into question the good faith of those who would sacrifice millions of lives for H-1B relief.

The use of H-1B visas by tech firms has been criticized by experts and reform advocates as a way for the companies to bring in cheap labor at the expense of American jobs. The tech companies counter that they fill a critical gap of American talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics - an assertion that some researchers also deny.

--- Matthew DeLuca

First published April 2 2014, 1:28 PM

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Senator to Tech CEOs: Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Moran Demands Vote on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

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Moran Demands Vote on Comprehensive Immigration Reform - Video