Tell Rep. McCarthy: Support Latino and immigrant voters, not extremists like Steve King

Recently, House Republicans held a special meeting on immigration. It could have been a disaster. But instead of Rep. Steve King (R-IA) winning the day with his anti-immigrant message, key Republicans stood up to say they can’t afford not to get this done. Pundits in Washington have been trying to declare immigration reform dead, but our hard work is proving them wrong….again.

Both Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), two of the three top GOP leaders in the House, acknowledged that they "need to move something" on immigration reform. While it's in no way a commitment to a path to citizenship, it’s an important first step.

But there’s a third leader in the House we didn't hear from -- Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). His support is critical because he’s in charge of helping Speaker Boehner gather support in the House.

We need to tell Rep. McCarthy to be a leader and speak up in support of the path to citizenship. He needs to stand with Latino and immigrant voters, not extremists like Steve King.

The path to citizenship already has majority support in the House -- they just need a chance to vote on it. And with more openness from Speaker Boehner and Rep. Cantor, we’ll keep fighting till we get a vote.

But an extreme minority in the House, led by Steve King, could disrupt all of that. His anti-immigrant vitriol could derail all the positive gains we've made so far, all because leaders in the House aren't leading. We need Rep. McCarthy to speak up now and gather support in his party.

As a Congressman from California, McCarthy knows Latinos have the power to influence -- in fact, they ousted Republicans statewide after anti-immigrant legislation in the 1990s. Rep. McCarthy’s own district is over 30% Latino. Will Rep. McCarthy learn from history, or let Steve King repeat it?