As the voice of a U.S. congressman crackled throughout the dimly-lighted room, the men and women sat quietly around the speakerphone, listening. After Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., finished his nationwide teleconference Wednesday night about how the United States needs immigration reform, some of the two dozen people in the room took out their cell phones. “Hello, my name is,” each began, leaving voicemails for Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., urging him to also support reforming the country’s immigration system.

“People have waited for this long enough,” said Miguel Ramirez, a Howell resident who has overstayed his work visa, after the gathering ended. “The United States needs this more than anything else.”

As the health care debate continues to rage on, some have begun to question whether President Barack Obama will also take on immigration reform next year as he had pledged to do.

In recent days, administration officials have given mixed signals over whether they intend to engage the issue head-on next year at the beginning of 2010 or postpone the debate until after the mid-term elections.

 But Gutierrez and other Democratic congressional leaders who spoke during the teleconference urged listeners to remind Obama and those running for office in 2010 about the power of the Latino vote.

“We must permit the path to legalization for those who have fought to achieve it for so long,” said Gutierrez, who is working on a comprehensive reform bill he said he intends to introduce next month.

The gathering here — conducted in Spanish as was the teleconference — was one of several organized throughout the state by New Labor, an immigrant workers’ advocacy group, said its executive director, Marien Casillas Pabellon.

“People are really beginning to get engaged in the process,” said Casillas Pabellon, whose group has unsuccessfully sought to have a meeting on the topic of immigration with Smith.

 Smith could not be reached ‘s office did not return several calls for comment.

 Virginia Ortiz, here, who also attended Wednesday’s gathering, said that while she is eager to see the nation’s immigration laws reformed, she is not convinced it will occur next year.

“Everything that they’re saying sounds very nice,” Ortiz said, referring to the teleconference. “But more often than not, it turns out to be more talk than action. It’s time for action.” APP