Written by: Natalia Perez
Immigration protesters stopped traffic on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge for more than 30 minutes Thursday morning, urging Congress to pass a citizenship bill through the budget reconciliation process.
“Immigrant communities cannot wait another 20 years of failed promises. An inclusive pathway to citizenship would boost the U.S. economy. As the Center for American Progress reports, a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants would increase U.S. gross domestic product by a cumulative total of $1.7 trillion over 10 years, create 438,800 new jobs, and increase wages for undocumented and American workers. The time to deliver economic justice, climate justice, and citizenship for all is now,” organizers of the protest said in a statement, the SFist reported.
“For these reasons, we demand that Vice President Harris and top Democrats in Congress override the decision by the unelected Senate parliamentarian which excludes undocumented immigrants from the budget reconciliation process.”
About 25 cars stopped traffic at around 7 a.m. on the bridge, and protesters delivered speeches from a bed of a truck and held banners reading, “Pass the $3.5 trillion spending bill,” “Override the Parliamentarian,” “Kamala: Override the Parliamentarian,” and “Citizenship for All.”
The protest came before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pulled a Senate-passed $1 trillion infrastructure bill from being voted on in the House late Thursday. Progressives in the Democratic Party flexed their power over the bill, sticking to their months-long vows to not vote on it without a simultaneous vote on a $3.5 trillion social spending bill.
At least five people were arrested, according to the California Highway Patrol, and four vehicles were towed during the protest.
Photo from: CBS SF
