On Thursday morning, traffic was stopped for over thirty minutes on the Golden Gates Bridge in San Francisco as protesters pushed Congress to pass a citizenship bill.
Over twenty cars stopped traffic at 7 a.m. and protesters stood on a truck to give speeches on the bridge. Many held signs reading “Override the Parliamentarian”, “Pass the $3.5 trillion spending bill”, and “Citizenship for All”.
The protest was led by the Bay Area Coalition for Economic Justice and Citizenship for All
Immigrant communities cannot wait another 20 years of failed promises. An inclusive pathway to citizenship would boost the U.S. economy. As the Center for American Progress reports, a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants would increase U.S. gross domestic product by a cumulative total of $1.7 trillion over 10 years, create 438,800 new jobs, and increase wages for undocumented and American workers. The time to deliver economic justice, climate justice, and citizenship for all is now.
protest organizers statement from SFist
“For these reasons, we demand that Vice President Harris and top Democrats in Congress override the decision by the unelected Senate parliamentarian which excludes undocumented immigrants from the budget reconciliation process”, said the protesters.
Later Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delayed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill from being voted on in the House after it passed in the Senate. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough made the decision Wednesday to remove immigration components from the potential social spending package.
Some Democrats vowed not to vote on the bill without a concurrent vote on the $3.5 trillion social spending bill.
Following the early protests, southbound traffic began to move around 7:30 and northbound traffic moved fifteen minutes later. Multiple people were arrested and four vehicles were towed from the bridge.