Protesters demanding immigration protections and citizenship for undocumented immigrants blocked traffic on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge Thursday morning.
Protesters on foot, and in 25 cars shut down traffic on the bridge’s Northbound lane, and California officials also closed the bridge’s southbound lanes, according to SF Gate, though traffic was moving by 7:45 a.m.
The protesters called on lawmakers to overrule the U.S. Senate‘s parliamentarian, who on Wednesday, rejected a second attempt by Democrats to include immigration reform in the budget reconciliation bill they hope to pass imminently.
“Immigrant communities cannot wait another 20 years of failed promises. An inclusive pathway to citizenship would boost the U.S. economy,” organizers of protest from the Bay Area Coalition for Economic Justice and Citizenship for All said in a statement obtained by news station KRON.
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The group cited a report from the Center for American Progress which stated that giving all undocumented immigrants in the U.S. a pathway to citizenship would increase the country’s GDP by up to $1.7 trillion.
“The time to deliver economic justice, climate justice, and citizenship for all is now,” the statement said.
“For these reasons, we demand that Vice President [Kamala] Harris and top Democrats in Congress override the decision by the unelected Senate parliamentarian which excludes undocumented immigrants from the budget reconciliation process.”
