The coalition, which includes activists from Los Angeles, New York and the Washington area, also announced plans to mobilize tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters for a demonstration on the Mall on Jan. 21, the day after Obama's inauguration.
"We voted in the millions and now we're going to demand progress in the millions," said Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, at a news conference to publicize the coalition's efforts.
The last attempt to pass an immigration overhaul in Congress foundered in the spring of 2007 amid a storm of angry phone calls from constituents complaining that the measure amounted to an unacceptable "amnesty" for "lawbreakers." And several members of the coalition acknowledged today that the tanking economy had further complicated their goals.
However they said they were also confident that the record turnout of Latino and immigrant voters in last week's elections would translate into greater political clout on the Hill.
Two-thirds of the Latino vote went to Obama, compared with barely more than half for Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race. Latinos, who tend to favor the path to legalization plan, proved particularly helpful to Obama and other Democrats in the three battleground states of Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.
"Historically we've never had legislative progress on immigration during an economic recession," said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.
"On the other hand we've never had these kinds of numbers turn out at the polls. . . . The immigrant and Latino vote has permanently established itself as part of the electoral calculus."
