Immigration Reform News 2013: Advocates, Activists Prepare to Pressure GOP to Pass Legislation During August Congressional Recess

While Republicans in the House of Representatives are taking their August recess, thousands, even millions of advocates for immigration reform plan to visit GOP congressional districts across the country, hold rallies, marches and more in a bid to push for effective reform.

USA Today reports that supporters of a proposal to overhaul the country's immigration law will spend the recess attempting to pressure House GOP members in their districts to pass a comprehensive reform bill similar to the one passed in the Senate.

Those in favor of all-encompassing reform including a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants, reportedly plan to use rallies, coordinated phone calls, social media campaigns and additional methods to maintain pressure on House Republicans.

According to a report from Politico, unions like the SEIU, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, the National Council of La Raza, and more met on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lay out a summer game plan to push for immigration reform utilizing events to target anti-immigration lawmakers, while they're away from Congress until the end of August.

"Advocates of reform understand that for our conservative base, the month of August is very important to provide accurate information about the need for comprehensive reform," said Charles Spies of Republicans for Immigration Reform. "During the previous debate when George [W.] Bush pushed for immigration reform, there was no grass-roots effort and a loud minority that opposes reform controlled the dialogue. This time, proponents of reform are not going to be caught off-guard."

While House committees have passed five immigration-related bills, supporters of a total overhaul of immigration laws say House Republicans are focusing too much on border security and not on a pathway to citizenship for the country's undocumented immigrants - a key tenet in the Senate reform bill.

In fact, according to a recent poll of Latino voters in Republican-held battleground districts, over two-thirds of those polled feel that the border-first concept is just an excuse to block a path to citizenship, and not a legitimate concern.

With that in mind, Clarissa Martinez of the National Council of La Raza, which supports the legalization of all undocumented immigrants, said that a coalition of pro-reform groups will host 360 different events in 52 congressional districts across the country during the month of August.

"There is one thing we must make absolutely clear and that is that the forces and the voices pressing for immigration reform are vast and growing," Martinez said.

Even big, seemingly unrelated names like Mark Zuckerberg are getting involved. The Facebook founder is scheduled to give a pro-immigration speech at the premiere of the film "Documented," which was directed by immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas.

According to a report from U.S. News & World Report, a group of Republican campaign donors including Karl Rove and Daniel Horowitz are even getting involved. The group sent a letter on Tuesday to the Republican caucus warning of the potential long-lasting impact on the party's success in future presidential and mid-term congressional elections should they insist on anti-reform measures.

"Standing in the way of reform ensures that we perpetuate a broken system that stifles our economy, leaves millions of people living in America unaccounted for, maintains a porous border and risks a long-lasting perception that Republicans would rather see nothing done than pass needed reform," the letter reads. "That is not the path for the Republican party."