Earlier today, thirty-seven New Yorkers--including 13 members of 1199SEIU and 32BJ--were arrested in lower Manhattan during a second round of civil disobedience intended to escalate pressure on President Obama and Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform by the end of 2010. Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, SEIU Local 32BJ Secretary-Treasurer Hector Figueroa and 32BJ VP Leonor Friedlaender were among those arrested.

The civil disobedience brought together local clergy, labor leaders, elected officials and community leaders linking arms to form a chain that temporarily blocked traffic in front of the federal building. It was the high point of a rally attended by one hundred New Yorkers demanding immediate action on immigration reform. Speakers at the rally urged the Obama administration to intervene to stop Arizona's draconian SB1070 law and to place a moratorium on deportations.

"We won't give up until there is real immigration reform," said Alba Vazquez, an Uruguayan immigrant whose sister died shortly after she was granted US citizenship. "We will continue marching until every worker in America is protected under the law. Laws like the one in Arizona bring fear into our communities without repairing a broken system that keeps immigrants in the shadows."

Watch footage from today's rally [10 minute clip] in protest of Arizona's immigration law here. More on last week's civil disobedience in NY last week at The Gothamist and NY1.