Protesters march for immigration reform

Hundreds of immigration reform supporters marched in downtown Austin hoping to get local lawmakers to listen.

More than 500 people marched down congress to the steps here at the Capitol. Their chants are asking for a better pathway to citizenship.

Armed with American flags and loud speakers they made their message heard.

Immigration reform is an issue close to the hearts of those like Lauren Nyc. Her husband is undocumented and they've been fighting for 4 years to make him a u-s citizen.

"We have two American children that need their father. We are productive members of society and we need the laws to change so that our family can stay together," said Nyc.

Under the current system it can take 10, 20, even 30 years to become an American citizen. For those who we're brought to the US illegally as children there's no pathway to citizenship.

"There's many of us, undocumented immigrants like myself, that have been here most of our lives and this is the only country we know. We're only here to contribute and better our country, the country we live in," Luis Maldonado, a member of Texas Dream Alliance.

There are currently 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. 1.6 of them live in Texas.

Organizers hope lawmakers get the message.

"We're here to tell senators Cruz and Cornyn to stop sacrificing border communities in the debate over immigration reform," said Christina Parker of Reform Immigration for Texas Alliance.

FOX 7 caught up with Congressman Michael McCaul Thursday. He says Homeland Security needs to be established before any immigration reform is made.

"To get members in the positions to support that, they need to have the confidence that we have our borders secured. So that if you want to do a guest worker program, you have control over who's coming in the country and who's leaving," McCaul said.

Because of her own struggle Nyc hopes something is done, even if it's just making the process easier.

"I think it needs to be less complicated, more streamlined and more available to people of any class or level of education," she said.