This week hundreds of people from across the South and around the country are joining together to send Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) an unequivocal message: “Stop your shameful attempts to torpedo immigration reform and rip apart immigrant families!” Will you join us by signing this petition? The Senate Judiciary Committee is currently marking up S 744, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act.” As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Sessions is doing everything he can to derail long-awaited and desperately needed immigration reform. He introduced 49 mean-spirited amendments that have so far been rejected even by members of his own party. Sessions has a long history of opposing civil rights and racially offensive remarks. He once called the NAACP “un-American,” made jokes about the Ku Klux Klan, and prosecuted three civil rights workers for voter fraud. He was an ardent supporter of Alabama’s HB 56, the nation’s most intrusive and hateful anti-immigrant law. Texto de la petición en español: "Senador Sessions: Deje de impedir la S 744, El Acta de Seguridad Fronteriza, Oportunidad Económica y Modernización Migratoria. Hemos esperado por mucho tiempo para reformar nuestro sistema dracónico de inmigración y sus colegas en el Senado estan trabajando arduamente para asegurar que eso suceda. Usted dice que está preocupado sobre el impacto que podría tener la S 744 en los empleos y en la economía, a pesar de que apoyó fuertemente la HB 56 de Alabama, la ley anti-inmigrante más intrusa y odiosa del país, y una ley que le está costando a su estado billones de dólares en producción económica y decenas de miles de trabajos. Alega que la familia es sagrada para usted, pero apoya políticas que están separando a miles de familias inmigrantes. Las familias inmigrantes son vitals para el Sur y este país y ayudan a fortalecer a sus comunidades economicamente, socialmente, y espiritualmente. Necesitamos una reforma migratoria integral que incluye un camino a la ciudadanía ahora. Le pedimos que permita que el Comité Judicial apruebe El Acta de Seguridad Fronteriza, Oportunidad Económica y Modernización Migratoria para que avance al Senado completo y esperamos que decida estar en el lado correcto de la historia y que vote ‘sí.’"

Humane iimmigration reform. I am friends with many aspiring Americans and observe daily how much they have to offer the US. It makes economic sense because it costs $23,000 to deport each person.

Right now, the Senate Judiciary Committee is working on markup of immigration reform legislation -- and the barriers to a path to citizenship in the current bill remain too high. On Tuesday, May 21, faith leaders from across the country will hold a People’s Hearing on Capitol Hill to put a human face on the debate, press for improvements to the bill, and deliver to Senate leaders the names of all who've signed this petition. Faith leaders, DREAMers and other community leaders will share their personal testimonies about the impact of current immigration policy on families and the need for a fair, direct and affordable path to citizenship in the final legislation.

Sen. Heitkamp will have a major role fixing our broken immigration system. We need Sen. Heitkamp to support a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants currently living in the United States without papers. Most of these immigrants have lived in this country for more than a decade and have come to America to seek a better life for their families. They are Americans-in-waiting who are ready to fulfill the requirements of our citizenship process - to study English, pay taxes, maintain a good record and be of good moral character. We need humane immigration laws that keep families together and make economic sense.

Last week, the Heritage Foundation released a controversial immigration report, widely discredited after it was discovered that one of its authors believes that “no one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites.” Now Republican Rep. Steve King is embracing the ugly report and is using it to oppose immigration reform. King hosted a recent press conference and cited the shoddy Heritage figures as fact, saying that "at no stage in their lives" do undocumented immigrants "make a net financial contribution to this country." This was no slip of the tongue -- he upped the ante by endorsing the Heritage report as "legitimate" in an op-ed the very next day. Some leading Republicans have already spoken out against the Heritage report, including Marco Rubio and Rep. King's colleague in the House, Paul Ryan. We need Rep. King and all members of the House to stop promoting this report so offensive to Latinos. When you sign this petition, we'll make sure that John Boehner, the leading Republican in the House, sees your message as well. Demand that Rep. Steve King stop promoting hateful viewpoints as fact today.

I love Pandora. But on March 15 and 16, I heard advertisements on Pandora by FAIR--an organization identified as an immigration hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (more information available at http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/08/10/how-do-we-know-fair-is-a-hate-group-let-us-count-the-ways/). According to Pandora, in the month of April 2013, the company had 70.1 million users, listening to a total of 1.31 billion hours. Unfortunately, Pandora has not limited their advertisements to ensure nationally-identified hate groups do not gain access to air time on their radio broadcast.

The Immigration system in this country is a mess. In Florida, we've seen forced slave labor camps, people separated from their families because they are forced to leave their homes seeking living wages, only to find terrible working conditions, low-wage servitude, sub-human living conditions, human trafficking, and mistreatment by abusive employers. What we don't need in this country is a designated third-class population that by all standards, has no legal protections and are freely exploited by thoughtless employers. We need a compassionate, family-based immigration plan that encourages undocumented workers to come out of the shadows and allows them to work legally, and with full rights of American citizens. We believe DREAMers, who came to this country as minor children should be processed into the system quickly because this is the only country they know. 21st century immigrants, just like our immigrant parents and grandparents, have come to this country to escape conditions that have made it impossible to support their families. Imposed free trade agreements and other violent political environments have created conditions in other countries that have forced people who otherwise would be gainfully employed in their countries of origin, to risk life and limb coming to a country where they might be able to work hard, contribute to the fiber of this country, and hopefully, earn a living while elevating economic and social possibilities for their children and grandchildren. Its time we stop being border hypocrites and vote for comprehensive immigration reform. We heartily disagree with the provision in the current bill that border militarization and drones will be increased by an additional $3 billion- on top of the $11 billion already spent on border enforcement in 2012 by the Obama administration. We feel this amount of money for border patrol and prisons, spent on a branch of security that spends more than all other law enforcement agencies combined is ridiculous, and a waste of taxpayer money and has very little accountability. We further disagree that there should be some kind of arbitrary quantitative border security attained before the over 11 million will be eligible to apply for citizenship. We also believe border communities should have citizen commissions, local police, faith and other local groups set up to advise the border patrol, ensuring accountability, which is so lacking in border communities today.

Leo is NOT A CRIMINAL but ICE wants to deport him. Leandro Jose Frageri Carlos has lived in the United States and New Jersey for over 8 years. His fiance and their US citizen daughters would be devastated if he left. Leo's sister is a US Citizen and his mother a legal resident. Please help them keep their family together!

We may soon achieve immigration reform that is long overdue. The bill Congress is seeking to pass would bring millions who call the US 'home' out of the shadows and fully into society. However, for 1,100 people who are continuing to be deported every day, the bill will come too late. My husband Roger is one of those people. One day in February we were driving to the store when a state policeman pulled us over. He claimed he had a warrant related to the car we were driving, the car that I own. Instead of letting us go, they asked for our identification and told me that they'd be taking my husband to immigration. After three months in detention, my husband was deported back to Honduras, the country he escaped for his own safety. Roger was a loving step-father for my son and a dedicated partner with me. Now we are separated because of a trip to the store for toothpaste and my family is torn apart. We had high hopes that immigration reform could help with his status and keep us together but now we don't know what to do. I don't want what my family is going through to happen to anyone else. Why is the President still deporting people who even some Republicans in Congress say belong here, with us, with their families? It doesn't make sense and it should stop immediately so that those who qualify for reform are still here when and if it passes. - Carmen Yvette Martinez

The US, State and County governments cannot afford to support them financially.

This petition is based on the extraordinary lengths that Senator Cruz will go to to advance his radical right-wing agenda. Many members of Congress understand that there are certain steps that need to be taken to create a bill that will bring closure to this issue facing this country. He does not favor any path to citizenship for undocumented workers, and now, to hedge his bets against approval of a bill, wishes to restrict implementation of any law to the completion of the fence and wants to prohibit any assistance to "amnestied illegals" should such a law go into effect.

As Congress seeks to pass immigration reform, more than 1,100 people who could be included in reform are continuing to be deported each day. People who came to the US looking for a better life, to provide for their families, and who call it home are pursuing political equality but may be taken away before a path to citizenship opens. Right now, the government is spending $18 billion dollars each year, just on immigration enforcement. It's more than all other federal law enforcement agencies' budgets, combined. That wasteful spending isn't just destroying families. It hurts our communities, divides families,removes hard-working people who contribute to our neighborhoods and our civic life, and ultimately undermines our democracy. Stopping deportations is sensible and humane. It resolves a crisis thousands are facing instead of prolonging it. It makes sense to cease the removals today of the people that Congress could make citizens tomorrow. The President brought relief to Dreamers and has the ability to extend that same relief to their parents, neighbors, and all who could become citizens under immigration reform.