Today was the townhall event.

Standing Firm confirms the list of speakers:

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D – CA), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Rep. Mike Honda (D – CA), Robert Cole, a member of the Florida Immigrant Coalition and a US Veteran, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D – IL), Senator Robert Menendez (D – NJ), Julieta Garibay, a DREAM Act Student leader from Texas and a roundtable discussion including Mark Lauritsen of UFCW, William Lucy of AFSCME and Arturo Rodriguez of UFW.

The White House meeting on Immigration has been pushed back to June 17th. Pastor Freddy Santiago expressed disappointment about this whereas Rep. Gutierrez stated that it gave us more time. Time for what?

Later, Ernesto Cortes from IAF gave a compelling speech on the humanitarian reasons for immigration reform, with a strong message for all organizers: “the only way we can get immigration reform passed is to communicate with people different than ourselves.” And McCauley hit home for a lot of us: “we accept their labor, we need their labor, but we do not accept their presence.” (Rt@kyledeb)

Over at promigrant.org, MamitaMala raises some very crucial questions.

People in the audience did not participate, beyond chanting on cue. One of the included chants was “Workable Solutions” and there was something about this chant that didn’t sit well with me. Workable meaning we stop pushing for inclusion of so-called divisive issues like detention reform, inclusion of glbt familias, and the DREAM Act?

And so does Citizen Orange:

I understand that the goal of Reform Immigration for America is not to divide, discuss, or dissect migration reform.  This is a conference for solidifying the base.  That being said, I can’t help but feel that Reform Immigration Reform for America is moving forward without substantively addressing some extremely important issues with U.S. migration reform, at least as it’s been characterized thus far.

MamitaMala brought up the issue of detention and broader enforcement in her blog post at The Sanctuary.  That issue is extremely important to address, and Roberto Lovato one of the most courageous in continuously bringing it up.  Still, there are still others that are completely being ignored.  For instance, why is it that traditional notions of comprehensive immigration reform include reuniting heterosexual married couples, while same-sex binational couples are left out in the cold.  Another important issue is the way Reform Immigration For America will treat migrant youth.  Will migrant youth be treated as leaders in the push for the DREAM Act? Or, will they be coopted or ostracized for pushing the DREAM Act independent of the migration reform?

It’s fine and dandy to put everyone under the ‘unity tent,’ while ignoring the elephant in the room: the growing migrant-military complex.

Which immigrant will be thrown under the bus? Will the movement for ‘comprehensive’ reform stifle the voices of migrant youth or let us emerge as the true leaders, movers and shakers that we are in both grassroots and Web 2.0 organizing?

If you think that the big DC ORGs and beltway groups are responsible for passing policies, think again. More than usual, they co-opt grassroots energy. Some of us are pushing back against that co-option, especially of migrant youth energy.

Day 3 is DREAM Act day. Today, United We DREAM convened to plan a schedule and ways to move forward within the framework of comprehensive reforms.

In some great news related to Reform Immigration for America, friend of the blog and fellow colleague from The Sanctuary–the Unapologetic Mexican–picked up an award on behalf of Promigrant.org for Best Ethnic Media from New American Media.