PREVIEW: Tens of thousands head to Washington for immigration protest

Mar 19, 2010, 15:22 GMT

Washington - Thousands will take to the streets of the US capital this weekend to express frustrations at the lack of progress on comprehensive immigration reform, which has been overshadowed by a slew of other priorities on President Barack Obama's agenda.

Organizers on Thursday said they have signed up 50,000 people from 33 states to attend the Sunday afternoon demonstration on Washington's National Mall in front of the US Capitol.

Immigration activists are hoping a strong showing will nudge Congress into action, but the timing of the demonstration could hardly be more awkward.

Around the same time the protest occurs outside Congress, the House of Representatives will likely be stuck in a final showdown over health care reforms - Obama's top domestic priority and a controversial issue that has dominated his first year in office.

The outcome of the House health care vote, which will likely take place Sunday afternoon, is far from certain amid resistance from many moderate Democrats over government expansion. Obama postponed a trip to Asia to continue lobbying for passage of the health bill.

The drawn-out battle over health care has delayed much of Obama's remaining domestic agenda, including priorities such as climate change, energy, financial regulation and immigration reform.

Immigration activists are undeterred by Sunday's health vote.

'Congress hopefully can walk and chew gum at the same time,' said Ali Noorani, head of the National Immigration Forum, one of the lobby groups organizing the protest.

Even with much of the US media focused on health care, 'it will be hard to ignore 50,000 plus people' gathering on the National Mall, Noorani said. 'March 21 has become something that America wants to be a part of.'

Inside Congress, immigration reform has slowly been gathering steam. Two senators, Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Lindsey Graham, released a bipartisan 'framework' for reforming the system after months of negotiations.

'America's security and economic well-being depend on enacting sensible immigration policies,' Schumer and Graham wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post.

Obama met with the two senators last week and on Thursday welcomed their proposals as the 'the basis for moving forward' on legislation, but it remained to be seen whether there will be any broad support in Congress.

Obama insisted he remained committed to finding a compromise by the end of this year, yet activists have been furious at the pace of the legislative effort and accuse Obama of not making it a top priority as he had promised during the 2008 presidential campaign.

'It's safe to say that patience has run out,' said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Centre for Community Change.

Immigration has long been a divisive topic in the United States, with the biggest divide coming over how to treat an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants who currently live in the United States.

The last comprehensive reform effort, which offered illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, was defeated in 2007. The legislation marked a key priority of former president George W Bush, but was opposed by most lawmakers within his own Republican Party.