Obama and McCain Asked to Speak on Migration Reform

Leaders of immigrant communities in New York asked the senators and candidates for presidency of the United states, the Democrat Barack Obama and the Republican John McCain, to cover the situation of immigration.

“Two debates of the candidates for the presidency and another for the vice-presidency have already taken place, and in neither of these was a single word said concerning migratory reform,” said the executive director of the Coalition for Immigration in New York, Chung-Wha Hong yesterday in a press conference.

He added that faced with this situation “the immigrant communities of this country are asking the candidates ‘what are your plans concerning immigration?'”

Tomorrow in Hoftstra University in the New York town of Hempstead, Obama and Mccain will hold the third and final presidential debate before the elections next November fourth.

The associations that defend immigrants insisted that neither of the candidates have dealt with these issues so far and asked them to “put an end to their silence” and “reveal their plans on how to resolve the migration system of this country” in the debate tomorrow.

“As is logical, immigrant voters are interested in the same things as other people in the US: the economy, the health care system, education and the war in Iraq, but for many of them immigration is an essential proposition because it is personal,” added Chung-Wha Hong.

For his part, Patrick Young, lawyer of the U.S. Center for Refugees, criticized that “neither candidate will be able to present a real plan for immigration if he does not receive support during the electoral campaign.”

“We know that people in the United States want a migration reform that is good for their families, for security and for the economy. Both candidates need to discuss their plans for this issue,” asked Young.

The Coalition for Immigration in New York also highlighted its activities to make sure that U.S. citizens who were immigrants are registered to vote.

The number of these voters “is growing and so is its power. This year, they could make the difference in places where the margin of victory (of one candidate or the other) is small,” says the co-director of the communal association Make the Road New York, Ana Maria Archila.

Silvia Gonzalez, a 20 year old student of Peruvian origins who arrived in the U.S. a decade ago proclaimed herself of this feeling.

“This will be the first time that I vote in a presidential election. As a migrant voter, this election is very important for me” said the youth, who considered it “important to decide something” above all because she knows “people who want to vote but cannot.”