Pro-immigrant advocates marched on Capitol Hill today to protest the lack of action on an immigration reform bill in the House. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

The United Farm Workers distributed cantaloupes and used civil disobedience that resulted in the arrest of one of their leaders on Capitol Hill today to make their case that the House should vote on a comprehensive immigration bill.

The UFW, which has joined agricultural employers in supporting the farm worker section of the immigration reform bill passed by the Senate, has been calling on the House to hold a floor vote on immigration reform, but House leaders have declined to move any immigration bills to the floor.


Cantaloupes picked by immigrants were delivered today to House members who voted for an anti-immigrant amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. (UFW)

Early today, members of UFW, United We Dream and America’s Voice, pro-immigration reform groups, delivered cantaloupes to 224 members of the House who voted for a bill sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, that would have forced the Obama administration to resume deportation of the “DREAMers,” the young undocumented students that President Barack Obama has declined to deport.

The cantaloupes were a response the statement King made recently about young illegal residents:

“For every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert,” King said.

The comment was denounced by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, but King has stood by it. Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., were among the Republicans who voted for the King amendment.

The cantaloupes delivered to the House today were pinned with the message: “This cantaloupe was picked by immigrants in California” and “You gave Steve King a vote. Give us a vote for citizenship.”

“According to Rep. Steve King, most young immigrants are drug runners with calves the size of cantaloupes as proof,” said Giev Kashkooli, UFW national vice president.

“Today we deliver these cantaloupes from California as proof of the hard work of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who labor often under harsh weather conditions harvesting the fruits and vegetables that feed our nation.”

“Agriculture in the United States is dependent on a hard-working, dedicated, tax-paying immigrant work force. King’s hateful comments are just another example of his failure to understand the reality of the agricultural industry and the great contributions immigrants make to this country,” he said.

“The racism of [King’s] words aren’t just words,” Kashkooli told reporters, MSNBC said. “They animate policies that affect all Americans. Boehner chose to give that policy a vote just a month ago.”

United Farm Workers of America Vice President Giev Kashkooli was among the protesters arrested on Capitol Hill today. (UFW)

Kashkooli later was among them a group of protesters arrested on Capitol Hill for blocking traffic, the UFW said. According to an Associated Press report, 41 people were arrested and being processed on charges of blocking passage.

The group was protesting against unjust immigration policies and the House GOP’s unwillingness to pass a bill that contains a pathway to citizenship and keeps families together, the UFW said in a news release.

The civil disobedience was the start of a nationwide “40 Days of Action” during the August congressional recess to put pressure on the Republicans to take up immigration reform, the UFW said.

Protestors blocked traffic at the intersection of First Street and Independence Avenue S.E. by the House Cannon Office Building as they chanted, sang and held banners demanding the end to the separation of families. They later rallied on the Capitol grounds.