3 Reasons Immigrant Advocates Should Attend Healthcare Town Halls

I know.

It might seem odd for an immigrant rights organization to blog about Healthcare Reform. However, the national debate on healthcare has more to do with immigration issues than it might appear at first glance. Here are three reasons that immigrant advocates should engage in the healthcare debate and turn out to town hall meetings:

1. To Make Sure the Immigrant Perspective is Heard.It's vital that we voice our concerns about immigrant inclusion now before the final bill is voted on in Congress. Some of the current proposals would create artificial barriers to healthcare for immigrants that are here with documentation (refugees, for example). We must ask Representative Gordon and our other elected officials whether they would vote for a bill that would deny affordable healthcare to New Americans.
2. To Demonstrate that Most People Want Rational Dialogue! Anyone following the news lately has probably witnessed their share of unbelievable displays of irrationality and misinformation at these town halls. Whether it's people parading their firearms in public or protesters calling for undocumented immigrants to be shot in the head, the level of discourse has reached an absolute low-point. It's important that we show Rep. Gordon that the vast majority of his constituency is ready for a sensible debate. It's also important to realize that most of the people making outrageous statements right now are the very same people who will be protesting against immigration reform next. That makes it all the more critical that we demonstrate clearly to Rep. Gordon and the media that reasonable people can make noise too!
3. Because if Healthcare Fails, Immigration Reform Becomes More Difficult.The unfortunate reality is that should Congress fail to pass Healthcare Reform, they would be less likely to take on other challenging issues like immigration anytime soon. Pres. Obama has repeatedly said that the order of issues he wants to address is Healthcare followed by Energy and Immigration Reform. To keep the momentum rolling towards comprehensive reform, we would be smart to lend our support now to the effort to overhaul our healthcare system.

Accordingly, we are urging our supporters in Rep. Bart Gordon's district to turnout to one of his official Healthcare Town Hall meetings next week:

Click here for some dates/times of upcoming town halls in Tennessee.

We realize that our supporters have a variety of views on our healthcare system, and a healthy, respectful diversity of opinions is exactly what our Members of Congress need to hear. Healthcare is of great importance to immigrants and non-immigrants alike, and the healthcare debate is very connected to the immigration debate to come.

Please feel free to contact me with any concerns or questions,

Elias Feghali
Communications Coordinator, TIRRC
www.tnimmigrant.org
facebook.com/tnimmigrant
o: 615-833-0384 [ext. 104]
c: 615-784-9745

Text "justice" or "justicia" to 69866 to get IMMIGRATION REFORM updates on events in your area and action alerts on federal legislation and campaigns.

Comments

[Julius]

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[Fashion Design Colleges]

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