44,000 can’t wait for immigration reform in Congress

For the 44, 000 people expected to be expelled from the country during Congress’ August recess, here immigration reform won’t come soon enough and executive action is already overdue.

While the end result of the immigration debate in Congress is uncertain when in session, we know that nothing will move while legislators are on vacation. Nothing, that is, other than the gears on the deportation machine that has been assembled and placed on overdrive under the Obama administration.

A Grandmother Fights Deportation After 30 Years in the United States | @pritheworld

I’m in a waiting room in a large courthouse in San Francisco. Immigration court. Sitting next to me is Magdalena Martinez. She’s here for her mom: Bertha Mejia, online from El Salvador. Bertha’s undocumented. In 2011, immigration officers came to Mejia’s home in Oakland. There was raid in the neighborhood. Martinez remembers that morning. “I got a phone c…