Today is the day, ladies and gentleman.

Today is the day that Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009, better known as CIR ASAP (yes, it is that cool to get the ASAP as the acronym!)

Throughout this morning I have been following several updates provided from pro-migrant Tweeps within the Twitterverse who were anxiously waiting updates from the CIR ASAP event that took place today on the hill. Some who were actually sitting down within the press conference themselves, which may I say, did an excellent job at reporting from the trenches what was being said within the press conference room.

The DREAM Act was mentioned in the conference!

We have a conference call tomorrow at 3 PM PST, 6 PM EST to explain the DREAM Act components of this new immigration reform bill. You can sign up for that call here: http://action.dreamactivist.org/cir_call

The full blown coverage will be provided after the jump… so please hold tight as this particular post develops. See you all tonight!

And yes, I will cover UAFA as well on this post.

::UPDATE::

Here is the total blog post for the event of today, just like I promised.

As mentioned, I have been running around all day like a headless chicken, as if most of us haven’t, but thank to Twitter and the wonderful people providing updates directly from their seats at the press conference, I was able to stitch somewhat the overall picture.

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 was introduced today within the walls of the Rayburn House office building. The press conference spanned about two hours in total, with different statements from various Representatives all from a variety of caucuses, obviously the Hispanic Caucus but here is a list of the other caucuses and the members that spoke on their behalf:

• Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-4), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force
• Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-12), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
• Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (NY-11), Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus
• Rep. Mike Honda (CA-15), Chair of Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
• Rep. Silvestre Reyes (TX-16), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
• Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA-6), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
• Rep. Joe Baca (CA-43)
• Rep. Xavier Becerra (CA-31)
• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
• Rep. Judy Chu (CA-32)
• Rep. Joseph Crowley (NY-7)
• Rep. Sam Farr (CA-17)
• Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (TX-20)
• Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)
• Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
• Rep. Grace Napolitano (CA-38)
• Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (TX-27)
• Rep. Pedro R. Pierluisi (PR-At large)
• Rep. Jared Polis (CO-2)
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-9)
• Rep. Jose E. Serrano (NY-16)
• Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-9)

And other Members of Congress…

Rep. Gutierrez led the conversation and gave several statements about the importance of this bill and why it is needed now, and not later. Moreover, apparently it seemed important to highlight over and over that CIR ASAP enjoys 89 co-sponsors (the number ranges from 87-89 I guess THOMAS will have the last say once the bill is up), something that is a huge deal this time around since the last time the bill was presented it only had 25 co-sponsors when it got kick started.

I do not intend to give you the whole play by play otherwise this post would be a manual, so for your enjoyment bellow are quotes of what was discussed (courtesy of @MicEvHil and @ClinicLegal)

“ Rep. Honda: People say Asians are boat people, well some of us came in a boat, some in slave ship, some in refugee boat, but we’re all in same boat”

“ Rep. Becerra: it is time for the politicians to stand with the public”

“Rep. Polis: Reforming immigration system is critical, ensures domestic tranquility- makes families, workplace stronger”

“Rep. D. Clarke: I, too, am the face of CIR. We will have buses coming from Brooklyn and Brooklyn dont play”

“Rep. Hinojosa: This CIR also incorporates the AgJobs bill to allow farmworkers to earn legalization”

“Rep Hinojosa: Proud to support the Dream Act, young people who aspire to better lives”

The conference then moved to a brief Q&A session in which a question about the DREAM Act surface specifically:

Q: “Is the DREAM Act in the bill?”

Gutierrez quickly pointed out that “his” Dream Act, was a vast improvement on the stand alone bill. Something that we will discuss on a different blog post to be up soon. Oh heres another one you may be thinking about as you read this:

Q: Why will it pass this time? Gutierrez: ”
“We’re getting the confidence from the mosaic you see here.”

If you want to take a break from your daily routine, maybe you have some spare time, I invite you to read over the bill itself which can be found here. Yes a long read, but for most of you anxious little people, this will probably be a lot better than an eighth Harry Potter book (if that ever was to be, but hey one can DREAM right?)

By the way, by the time you read this bill you probably notice that LGBTQ families have been thrown under the bus in CIR ASAP. Where is Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) in this bill? I guess its time to hit that #p2 hashtag on your Twitter accounts folks.

Keep an aye out for our comparison post on DREAM Act vs. DREAM Act