Vice President Joe Biden made a visit to immigration reform activists on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Friday in a show of support for a group of people who have staged a hunger strike to protest what they see as inaction on the part of House GOP on the issue. According to the Associated Press, Biden told the group, who are now in their 11th day, "As my father would say, come hell or high water, we're going to win this."
The "Fast for Families" is sponsored by a coalition of faith and immigrant-advocacy groups. According to their website, leaders and immigrant members will "fast every day and night, abstaining from all food-except water-to move the hearts and compassion of members of Congress to pass immigration reform with a path to citizenship." Their site points to the Senate's passage of a comprehensive immigration bill in June as the first step in "addressing the moral crisis that is our broken immigration system", and criticizes the House Republican leadership for refusing to introduce that legislation for consideration and a vote in the lower chamber.
White House spokesman Jay Carney says Biden's expressions of solidarity with the strikers' cause reflects President Barack Obama's own views. The White House says Biden prayed with the activists for the passage of immigration legislation and listened as they explained why they were fasting. One of the fasters, Eliseo Medina, a former secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told the Los Angeles Times that Biden's visit was "inspiring". "I was humbled and strengthened by his words and commitment to immigration reform," said the 67-year-old, long an advocate of immigration reform. "He gives me more hope that we can finally address this moral crisis."
The LA Times also notes that the vice president's visit to the protestors follows visits from other administration officials and lawmakers from both parties, including Labor Secretary Tom Perez, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and California Republican representatives Jeff Denham and David Valadao, all of whom support an immigration overhaul. House GOP leaders say a single bill overhauling the system is the wrong way to take on the issue, and have produced a series of single-issue bills, none of which have yet addressed the question of a path to citizenship for the undocumented - a central tenet for Democrats.
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