May, 01 2013, 11:29am EDT
May Day Nationwide Actions Push for Commonsense Immigration Reform
Mounting consensus continues to call on Congress to support a roadmap to citizenship
WASHINGTON
While Capitol Hill prepares for the debate on the new Senate immigration bill next week, at more than 50 events nationwide, thousands of working families are celebrating May Day and calling on members of Congress to pass commonsense immigration reform.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) along with allied organizations, such as Mi Familia Vota, are celebrating May Day with major actions in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston and many more cities. Working families are engaging in marches, rallies and civic engagement activities to demonstrate the growing momentum for a fair and comprehensive immigration solution with a clear and direct path to citizenship.
"The drumbeat for commonsense immigration reform is only getting louder," said Eliseo Medina, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer. "Today, as we raise our voices and our American flags in honor of all working families, we march and rally throughout the country to make sure we mark 2013 as the year our government passed an immigration bill worthy of our highest national values."
"The majority of Americans want members of Congress to support an immigration bill that paves a road to citizenship without onerous obstacles," he added. "The American mandate for commonsense immigration reform won't be ignored or, let alone, sabotaged in the debate with poison pill amendments."
For more information on the May Day nationwide events, please visit here or contact Beatriz Lopez at beatriz.lopez@seiu.org.
With 2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.
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According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
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The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said that he has "the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."
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Biden, who campaigned on ending the death penalty at the federal level, vowed to "take more steps in the weeks ahead" as his administration reviews clemency petitions, leaving open the possibility of commutations for death row prisoners.
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