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Conservative activists from across the country told Congress that supporting “amnesty” hurts American workers and the unemployed during a “March for Jobs” in Washington.

“Why do they get the priority from the Congress over the interests of American workers? About 7 million of these illegal workers hold American jobs,” said Frank Morris of the Black American Leadership Alliance, who organized the event.

Ken Crow, co-founder of TeaPartyCommunity.com, got cheers from the hundreds in attendance at the rally when he delivered the tea party’s message to House Speaker John Boehner.

“Mr. Boehner, if you want to run this bill through, you want to have subcommittees, you want to tailor something similar but not quite, do so at your own political peril because I’m going to tell you now, the tea party community and the tea party world and conservatives across this nation will ensure that next year you’re going to get to send your resume out and I can promise you ‘gang of 8,’ the same goes for you,” said Crow on Capitol Hill at Upper Senate Park.

The Senate passed an immigration reform bill in June that offers a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

“Do you think Senator Rubio can hear us now?” Crow asked the crowd.

Former Florida Rep. Allen West, director of Next Generation programming at PJ Media, said the Senate and President Obama think legalizing illegal immigrants is more important than addressing America’s unemployment situation, particularly among African-Americans.

“When you think about what is happening with black unemployment, when you think about what is happening with black teenage unemployment, all those voices that were down in Sanford, Florida — why aren’t they here today, standing with us now?” West said, referring to those protesting George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the death of Trayvon Martin.

“The real tragedy of what is happening in the black community is that a community that once was very proud, strong families, now only 28 percent of black children have mothers and fathers in the home and now we have a Senate, we have a president, we have people up here on Capitol Hill that think it is more important to reward people who came here illegally than to look to the inner cities, and strengthen the inner cities, and strengthen the black community.”

According to U.S. Labor Department data, the unemployment rate among African-Americans is currently 13.7 percent while it stands at 7.6 percent nationally.



PJ Media asked Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who spoke at the “March for Jobs,” if he is confident at this point that the House will not pass a pathway to citizenship.

“I’m more optimistic than I was. Three months ago, it didn’t look like there was a very good opportunity to put an end to the destruction of the rule of law and it looks now like there’s a better opportunity to do that, but it’s a long ways between now and a president who won’t respect the rule of law,” said King.

“If he wanted to sign some bill that had amnesty in it, he really damaged his chances of doing that when he decided that he could rewrite Obamacare by whim and by let’s say the website of the US Treasury, second in command. He used to teach the Constitution. He has no constitutional authority to rewrite Obamacare, immigration law, No Child Left Behind, Welfare to Work – he has no constitutional authority to do that.”

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Jeff Sessions of Alabama also addressed the rally.

“If this bill is passed, it will increase unemployment,” Cruz told the crowd. “If this bill is passed it will increase African-American unemployment. If this bill is passed it will increase youth unemployment. If this bill is passed it will increase Hispanic unemployment.”

Sessions called the Senate bill a “hammer blow to working families” that are “hurting” in today’s job market.

“The House must not negotiate with the Senate bill,” he said.