While the March for America on the National Mall three weeks ago was largely overshadowed by the health care drama on Capitol Hill, supporters of comprehensive immigration reform are still at it -- both here in Illinois and nationwide.  And some high-profile allies are stepping up.

Later this morning, former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar will advocate in favor of comprehensive immigration reform at a luncheon sponsored by about 200 business and social groups. (We'll have coverage of the event this afternoon.) On Saturday, Sen. Dick Durbin will join thousands of immigrant leaders and allies in Chicago to push for further action. And members of the Service Employees International Union (whose Illinois State Council sponsors this site) are coordinating two-day prayer vigils outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in Los Angeles, Boston, and Minneapolis today. From a press release:

Thursday and Friday’s vigils are an effort to illustrate the ongoing, human cost of this agency’s misguided, out-of-control immigration enforcement strategy—which only serves to waste taxpayer resources, hurt hardworking people, and devastate local communities.  ICE’s “strategy” of sowing misery in workplaces and communities not only fails to tackle the underlying issue of our broken immigration system—it also contradicts efforts to improve wages and working conditions of all U.S. workers.