As a teacher in an ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom, I am consistently impressed by the determination of hardworking migrant students, most of whom are separated from their families as they struggle to establish a new and better life for themselves and their children. Immigrants presently face sometimes insurmountable hurdles as they attempt to navigate our dysfunctional immigration system. It is only just that we welcome these migrants who, as they attempt to support their families and improve their lots in life, must hide in the shadows while laboring to provide us with goods and services. We have a moral responsibility to share the wealth that we have been afforded by the efforts of our immigrant ancestors.

------------------------------------------UPDATE------------------------------------------------ Great News! The Iowa GOP just confirmed that Steve King will not be at the GOP Lincoln Dinner this year! However, Paul Ryan will still be speaking at the event in Cedar Rapids. So, we are holding a rally to demand a vote from Paul Ryan and House Republicans on immigration reform. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ On national TV, Rep. Paul Ryan says he supports immigration reform, but here in Iowa he's headlining a fundraiser featuring Rep. Steve King on April 11th. Steve King has done more to hurt the immigrant community than any other member of Congress. He has compared immigrants to dogs and accused DREAMers of being drug mules. In fact, just this week he told DREAMers wanting to join the military that he has a deportation bus to Tijuana waiting for them. He even said giving citizenship to undocumented veterans is like handing out candy in a parade! This is the man Paul Ryan is campaigning with in Iowa! If Rep. Paul Ryan really cared about immigrants and immigration reform, he'd speak out against Steve King's ugly rhetoric. For King, this is another chance for possible 2016 presidential candidates to kiss his ring - and get a photo. Ryan is legitimizing King's anti-immigrant agenda. This is the kind of photo op that may help with King's crowd but it will be a long-term problem for Ryan's political future.

I've heard a lot of things from Rep. Steve King, but recently he reached an ultimate low. He said children of immigrants who came to the US children without papers should be immediately deported instead of allowed to serve in the military. While discussing the ENLIST Act, a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to join the army and eventually earn citizenship if they arrived before they were 15, Rep. King said: "As soon as they raise their hand and say, 'I'm unlawfully present in the United States,' we're not going take your oath into the military, but we're going to take your deposition and we have a bus for you to Tijuana." "We have a bus for you to Tijuana?" Who says that about kids -- especially kids who want to join the military? This is outrageous! These comments about aspiring members of the military are unacceptable. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican from Colorado responded by saying, “As a Marine combat veteran, I believe there is no higher expression of citizenship than serving our nation in uniform.” and I agree! The Reason Rep. Steve King gets away with his horrible rhetoric in Congress is because Tom Latham and other leading Republicans in Iowa refuse to stand up to him. Why are Republican members of Congress in places like Colorado publicly condemned these comments -- but we have heard nothing from Rep. Latham from here in Iowa? Please join me in demanding that Rep. Latham condemn these comments.

For immigrants coming to America it is a land of opportunity. There are dreams of a better life in both work and living. Many of them are placed with a stigma of being an “unskilled worker". However, the demand for their work cannot be denied. They face discrimination in being treated worse than Americans in the same type of work. Reasons for this is due to a language barrier, low-expectations of skilled work, and expectations of being paid well. These workers face labor exploitations in the areas they work in, and although there have been some regulations made to protect them, not enough has been done. We ask for fair treatment and anti-discrimination laws to protect immigrant workers. Immigrants are forced to work in dangerous conditions and if they happen to get injured on the job they will get deported. Supervisors may harass immigrants sexually and force them to work at a very fast pace. Most immigrants are employed in agriculture or construction, which both have high injury rates. While immigrants take these jobs because they seem safer than jobs in their previous country, they are not given adequate information and protection from unsafe working conditions. The language barrier and little education are further reasons they have been exploited. We ask that laws are put in place to protect immigrant workers from these conditions and to provide better educational opportunities for them. The deplorable working conditions for migrant workers in the United States also create undue psychological stress on the individual. Migrants tend to be youthful in age, and are looking for a way to balance the financial stress of having a family, as well as trying to maintain the well-being of family across unfriendly borders. When mothers and fathers come into the U.S. seeking a way to provide for their children they often end up working extremely long hours in dangerous conditions and do not have the psychological stamina to deal with a child who never knew their homeland. As a result, the children suffer, as well. The restrictions the U.S. government places on these families is discriminatory, is dangerous for the human psyche, and does not stop or slow the flow of traffic across the border. We ask that you address these restrictions that keep families separated and endangers their psychological, physical and emotional safety. While California has had some success with signing in laws that protect immigrant workers, there remains the problem on the federal level of immigrant worker protection which leaves immigrant workers vulnerable to abuses in other states. One example of abuse is include employer control of worker visas which can lead to exploitation and punishment for organization, including the fear of deportation. Another example is the shadow of human trafficking to which immigrants can be subject to without appropriate laws to protect them. Other anti-immigration measures such as the E-Verify system need to be addressed. We ask that you make federal immigration reform with protection for immigrant workers and their families a priority this year so they can work and live in safety. Sincerely, Dr. Paul Lopez, Ph.D., Carrie, Kendra, Francis, and Emmett

At the same time that the President has said that he would like to make immigration practices more humane, the immigration enforcement agency is using deportation as a weapon against families working toward the same goal. Jaime Valdez and Ardani Rosales were both illegally deported without notice and in retaliation for their part in bringing attention to the abusive conditions in the detention centers where they were held. On Tuesday April 1st, both men will present themselves with their legal files at the Nogales port of entry to request permission to reunite with their loved ones and close their cases using humanitarian parole. Today's civil rights leaders deserve respect not retaliation. Their families belong together, it's unjust intimidation practices that have no place in the United States. See videos and more information at: http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/2014/03/29/right-to-reunite/

Because the way illegal immigrants are treated by the immigration. What they doing its a crime, separating families breaking them apart.

Aura will separated from her 3-year-old son Edwin. On Friday December 15, 2013, Aura was told by ICE in Baltimore, Maryland to pack her bags and say goodbye to Edwin because she will be leaving the United States of America soon. Aura has and ankle bracelet put on her on December 06, 2013 like some criminal when Aura had no criminal record. I know that the community has the power to stop separating families. You can help keep Aura with her 3-year-old son Edwin. Aura has lived in Marylan since 2004. Aura has worked really hard all of these years to provide for Edwin and to see him go to school. Aura dream is to see Edwine go to college and be an attorney, doctor, or Engineer. Aura can only dream, she is a single undocumented mother trying to make it for her son. In 2012, Aura was detained by Maryland police officers for driving without a license while Aura was working. ICE detained Aura for 4 days before being let go and then put into deportation proceedings. Aura spent 4 days in detention away from Edwin for wanting to change the future of her children. Like many of us Edwin wasn’t born in the United States of America with all of its opportunities. Aura took action and provided an opportunity for a better life for her children. In El Salvador Aura escape poverty, violence, and hopelessness for an opportunity of a better life. I would do the same and I know you would too. Please help keep Aura with her son, Edwin.

Rep. Mike Coffman has said he supports immigration reform, but it seems he’s done little to pressure Speaker Boehner to act. We know that if immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship were put up for a vote in the House, it could pass -- but Speaker Boehner refuses to budge. But there's a way to pressure Republicans like Rep. Coffman to act. House Democrats have just started a legislative procedure called a "discharge petition" to force action on immigration reform. If the nearly 30 House Republicans who support reform --- including Rep. Coffman -- join Democrats in signing this discharge petition, we can force Speaker Boehner to bring immigration to a vote, whether he likes it or not. We need Rep. Coffman to start leading and sign the discharge petition. If he really does support immigration reform, Rep. Coffman needs to act now!

Rep. Kevin McCarthy has said he supports moving forward on immigration reform, but it seems he’s done little to pressure Speaker Boehner to act. We know that if immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship were put up for a vote in the House, it could pass -- but Speaker Boehner refuses to budge. But there's a way to pressure Republicans like Rep. McCarthy to act. House Democrats have just started a legislative procedure called a "discharge petition" to force action on immigration reform. If the nearly 30 House Republicans who support moving forward on reform --- including Rep. McCarthy -- join Democrats in signing this discharge petition, we can force Speaker Boehner to bring immigration to a vote, whether he likes it or not. We need Rep. McCarthy to start leading and sign the discharge petition. If he really does support moving forward on immigration reform, Rep. McCarthy needs to act now!

Rep. Paul Ryan has said he supports immigration reform, but it seems he’s done little to pressure Speaker Boehner to act. We know that if immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship were put up for a vote in the House, it could pass -- but Speaker Boehner refuses to budge. But there's a way to pressure Republicans like Rep. Ryan to act. House Democrats have just started a legislative procedure called a "discharge petition" to force action on immigration reform. If the nearly 30 House Republicans who support reform --- including Rep. Ryan -- join Democrats in signing this discharge petition, we can force Speaker Boehner to bring immigration to a vote, whether he likes it or not. We need Rep. Ryan to start leading and sign the discharge petition. If he really does support immigration reform, Rep. Ryan needs to act now!

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart has said he supports immigration reform, but it seems he’s done little to pressure Speaker Boehner to act. We know that if immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship were put up for a vote in the House, it could pass -- but Speaker Boehner refuses to budge. But there's a way to pressure Republicans like Rep. Diaz-Balart to act. House Democrats have just started a legislative procedure called a "discharge petition" to force action on immigration reform. If the nearly 30 House Republicans who support reform --- including Rep. Diaz-Balart -- join Democrats in signing this discharge petition, we can force Speaker Boehner to bring immigration to a vote, whether he likes it or not. We need Rep. Diaz-Balart to start leading and sign the discharge petition. If he really does support immigration reform, Rep. Diaz-Balart needs to act now!

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has said she supports immigration reform, but it seems she’s done little to pressure Speaker Boehner to act. We know that if immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship were put up for a vote in the House, it could pass -- but Speaker Boehner refuses to budge. But there's a way to pressure Republicans like Rep. Ros-Lehtinen to act. House Democrats have just started a legislative procedure called a "discharge petition" to force action on immigration reform. If the nearly 30 House Republicans who support reform --- including Rep. Ros-Lehtinen -- join Democrats in signing this discharge petition, we can force Speaker Boehner to bring immigration to a vote, whether he likes it or not. We need Rep. Ros-Lehtinen to start leading and sign the discharge petition. If she really does support immigration reform, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen needs to act now!