Immigrants mount pro-reform hunger strike outside US Capitol

Washington, Nov 16 (IANS/EFE) Five activists are four days into a hunger strike at a camp set up near the US Capitol to put pressure on legislators to pass immigration reform in the US.

Meanwhile others around the country are joining in - activists are also mounting hunger strikes in New York, Philadelphia and Fresno, California, according to the coalition of groups calling for reform.

The organisers, which include CASA in Action and America's Voice as well as religious and union groups, say that in the coming weeks Omaha, Nebraska, and Phoenix will have their own hunger strikes.

At the same time, daily demonstrations are being organised in which activists go into the streets to raise awareness among the people about the urgency of immigration reform.

"It's not easy because the demonstrations we're mounting are in bad weather and it's getting very cold, but the strength and enthusiasm behind getting this reform done won't allow us to stay home," said one of the hunger strikers, the Argentine Monica Carrizo who has lived in the US for 13 years without papers.

Carrizo, who said she was "desperate", intends to stick to her hunger strike for immigration reform "until it's approved" and believes that will occur this year, even though the speaker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, John Boehner, said Wednesday that the immigration law will not be debated until 2014.

--IANS/EFE

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