As Ron reported earlier, John Kerry was in Los Angeles today touring parts of downtown Los Angeles with Congressman Xavier Becerra (CA-31), to discuss immigration reform. Kerry was here at Rep. Becerra’s invitation in order to better understand the implications of the various immigration proposals that are currently being debated in Congress. On Friday, the Senate’s version of immigration reform failed at an impasse, the debate is expected to continue after Congress’ two week recess.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets again today to rally for fair immigration reform. The rallies have been by and large to urge lawmakers to “help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States” and to protest the bill passed by the House that “would crack down on illegal immigrants and strengthen the nation’s border with Mexico.”

I attended two of the events today with Senator Kerry. At Clinica Romero, John Kerry listened to the concerns of healthcare workers and advocates. Clinica Romero has been serving the downtown Los Angeles area since 1983. Nearly 70% of their patients have no healthcare insurance and approximately 20% of their patients are covered under Medicaid. Richard Veloz, CEO of Clinica Romero told Kerry that Clinica Romero relies heavily on community support support and fundraising.

One healthcare worker at the clinic told John Kerry that one of the biggest healthcare problems they see is the lack of communication between parents and children. With parents working and most without healthcare coverage, the children often go without proper medical attention.

Kerry asked the panel of healthcare workers and advocates if they were familiar with his Kids First legislation and whether they thought it would “make a difference” for clinics like Clinica Romero whose budget issues vary from year to year. Velez, responded, “Definitely.” If John Kerry’s Kids First bill was passed, it would help to free up funds used for treating children without healthcare and make those funds available to adults.

Many of Clinica Romero’s patients work in the garment or hotel industries in downtown Los Angeles. Without legal status there are no benefits available to the workers and they can not organize properly to fight for benefits. Healthcare benefits and labor organizations don’t fall in with the Republican promotion of cheap labor.

Clinica Romero is in one of the most densely populated areas in the city of Los Angeles, let alone in the nation. Rents are comparatively high in the neighborhood compared with some other areas in Los Angeles. One patient of the clinic who spoke during the meeting said she shared a one bedroom apartment with her sister, her husband, her child and has another baby on the way. Their monthly rent is $1800 and the building is cockroach and rat infested. Her husband makes $500 a week.

John Kerry showed his heart, compassion and understanding of the complex issues surrounding the immigration debate here in Los Angeles today. I’ll have more on the events with John Kerry in another post soon.

NOTE: Click on the photos for larger view and there are more photos here.

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