Just before US President Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union address on Tuesday night, members of The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA) delivered their own immigrant SOTU.
They expressed hope that the US government would also address the country's broken immigration system.
"We are hosting our own State of the Union ahead of President Biden to express our discontent in his leadership and to demand that he makes immigration reform a priority," CHIRLA political director Fatima Flores Lagunas said. "We are in the second year of his presidency and he is yet to fulfill the immigration promises he made on the campaign trail."
Aqui Soriano Versoza of the Pilipino Workers Center said they were demanding 'real change for immigrants, real solutions for this broken immigration system that we have.'
"Filipinos are also suffering. All of the immigrants are suffering from the system that keeps families separated and 30 years has been too long for a real solution for our immigrant brothers and sisters who have been working and living together as our neighbors," Versoza noted.
Versoza added that despite the lack of action by the federal government on pressing immigration issues, community groups like the Pilipino Workers Center have been helping families avail of programs that benefit immigrants on a local level.
"We're looking for solutions connecting people to resources. There are new funds and programs coming from the city and county level to support immigrants so we’re looking to see how we can connect the Filipino community to all these resources and we just have to organize the community, build more connections between ourselves so we can help each other and make sure people are not isolated."
In the past, Biden has touted his administration’s latest enforcement measures, which have been effective according to immigration authorities.