Originally published by The Spokesman-Review (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/sep/22/for-ewu-graduate-immigration-reform-worth-risking/) about a former PJALS intern
by Kip Hill
Lucia Vazquez’s tears didn’t begin flowing until she and more than 100 other women seated themselves in the road near the steps of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I was crying because I just saw how many women were risking going to jail,” the 24-year-old Eastern Washington University graduate said.
Vazquez participated in the largest civil disobedience demonstration to date pressuring Congress to pass a full-scale overhaul of the nation’s immigration policies.
On Sept. 12, she and 114 other women blocked traffic on Capitol Hill in an attempt to force the House of Representatives to take up a legislative package passed by the U.S. Senate in June. Gestating under the gaze of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators and representatives since January, the legislation would beef up border security, increase the number of visas available for temporary workers and create a new “pathway to citizenship” for immigrants living in the United States illegally.