On May 12, people all around Spokane celebrated Mother’s Day. I delivered a Mother’s Day card to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She’s not my mom, but speaking from one mom to another, I told her about how some families in Washington are being torn apart.

I asked the congresswoman to open her heart on to the common-sense immigration reform now working its way through the U.S. Senate. Today, families that work hard to build our local economies shouldn’t be torn apart because of an outdated, unfair immigration policy.

The reform package in Congress gives people a pathway to citizenship, provides protections to all workers and, most important to mothers, keeps families together.

This debate is about equality, dignity, respect and fairness; all American values I support. I hope McMorris Rodgers will, too.

Valerie Anderson-Webb

Spokane