Family Eats Thanksgiving Dinner Publicly to Call for Immigration Reform

With two weeks left on the Congressional calendar, a local Westchester family staged their Thanksgiving dinner in the Galleria Mall underpass Wednesday afternoon to keep the call for common sense immigration reform alive.

An empty chair was placed at the table for what would have been their deported uncle’s place setting. Similar actions are being organized across the country to remember those who cannot be with their loved ones this Thanksgiving because of our nation's broken immigration system.

Deported to his native Mexico in 2012, the uncle was forced to leave his own wife and three children behind.

“My wife misses her brother and my children deeply miss their uncle,” said Gabriel Hernandez, property service worker and Mexican immigrant. “But most importantly, his own children will be eating Thanksgiving dinner without him tomorrow night. No child should have to spend a holiday without their parent. We need immigration reform so more families can stay together.”

The action comes as part of a nationwide movement to keep pressure on Republicans in Congress to join the ranks of those supporting the current immigration reform bill on the table and on House Speaker John Boehner to call the bill to a vote.

John Santos, Hudson Valley area director and vice president of 32BJ SEIU, said, “Speaker Boehner and the rest of Congress need to hear the millions of voices clamoring for a vote on immigration reform by the end of the year. Too many families across the country are suffering, but our economy is suffering too. Adding 11 million immigrants to our tax base will undoubtedly be an asset to us all.”

With more than 145,000 members in 11 states, including 5,000 in Hudson Valley, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.