REDLANDS - A group of locals calling for immigration reform sat in Congressman Jerry Lewis' Redlands office Thursday urging him to take a public stance on immigration reform.
"We're here because Congressman Lewis has yet to take a stance on immigration," said 23-year-old Sergio Aquilar of Redlands. "We want a public statement, not just for us to know, but for everyone else to know."
Aguilar said once Lewis states his stance, they will either support him if he believes as they do, or try to persuade him to sympathize with their efforts.
The group of about 20 young people, mostly students, came to the district office Thursday morning carrying picket signs and sporting T-shirts.
Some were citizens, others illegal immigrants.
Many were from the Campaign to Reform Immigration for America, which calls for comprehensive immigration reform. The group sat in his office for about two hours waiting for Lewis to finish voting in Washington, D.C., so he could speak with them.
"We are looking for the congressman to support comprehensive immigration reform that will uplift the American economy," said 24-year-old Samantha Contreras, the statewide organizer for Reform Immigration for America. "Immigrants want to become integrated, they want to become full-fledged citizens, they want to be here not only to exercise civil rights but to vote and work and send their kids to college. This issue cannot be continued to be ignored by the congressman."
Seventeen-year-old Gladys, who is an illegal immigrant and would not give her last name, said her father was deported in 2006.
"I'm fighting so that no more families can be separated and so that Jerry Lewis can hear my voice because even though I'm undocumented, I have a voice," Gladys said.
Lewis, who has met with the group before, spoke with them via teleconference from Washington after he finished
