Immigration Reform News 2014: Florida Democrats Push for Reform

José Antonio "Joe" García, Jr. and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, U.S. Representatives for Florida's 26th and 23rd congressional districts respectively, will join hundreds of immigration supporters in Hollywood Monday to press Congress to legislate a comprehensive immigration bill.

Earlier this month, Democrats renewed their push seeking a ballot on a prospective comprehensive immigration reform package and vowed to press Republicans to sign a discharge petition ensuring a vote on the legislation that would enable many undocumented immigrants to gain legal status and eventually citizenship.

On Feb. 10 last year, Garcia introduced the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, which has been endorsed by as many as 200 representatives in both the U.S. Houses, in addition to about 650 business organizations, counting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Democrats have been asserting that passing the bill would help to decrease the country's fiscal deficit by $900 billion over the next two decades.

According to Garcia, the Act offers an earned opportunity for millions of illegal immigrants to secure their citizenship, while enhancing border security. He also claims that it would also allow millions of children, who are brought into the U.S. illegally, to get employment, open bank accounts and pay taxes. Once the bill is passed, he claims they will no longer live in fear of being deported.

However, Republican lawmakers have shied away from passing any such bill during an election year, cautioning that any move to pass the bill would end all remaining bipartisan collaborations on the sensitive issue of immigration.

The move by the Republicans has put President Barak Obama under tremendous pressure, as the supporters of the new immigration package want him to take a decision on restraining deportations as well as allowing a section of the illegal immigrants to remain in the United States.