Gainesville Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice will hold an organizing meeting to form a coalition for immigration reform.
The group will meet Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Emmanuel Mennonite Church Meeting House, located at 1236 NW 18th Ave.
"This will be our first effort at organizing in Alachua County," said Richard MacMaster, spokesman for the alliance.
He said the goal of the meeting is to bring a lot of people to the table in the hopes of discussing the common goal of immigration reform.
"We hope to have a good cross section of the community of people from different groups and different groups that don't perhaps always work together, but who agree on the need for immigration reform," MacMaster said.
Edwin Enciso, an organizer with Comprehensive Immigration Reform Now!, will be traveling from Ybor City to help the group plan for action.
Enciso has been working with other areas in the 3rd District and has been doing organizational work for immigration reform for some time, MacMaster said.
Ultimately, the group hopes to host an immigration summit in Gainesville and to have Congressman Ted Yoho -- who represents the 3rd District -- attend.
MacMaster said the time has come to work on immigration reform.
"We can't just continue to sweep it under the table and say, 'Well, it'll be something we can deal with some other time,'" he said. "There needs to be a path to citizenship for those who want it."
Michal Higdon reported for WUFT-FM.