Thread: LA March draws a smaller turnout

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_4281106

March draws a smaller turnout
Immigrant-rights protesters rally
BY BRENT HOPKINS, Staff Writer

Their numbers were diminished, but their voices were still loud and angry.

Immigrant-rights protesters descended by the hundreds into downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, aiming to keep alive the spirit of the springtime marches that began the nationwide movement.

Banging drums and bearing signs, they rallied for amnesty for the undocumented and protection from laws they called racist.

Estimates on the crowd's size varied from several hundred into the thousands, but the march clearly drew smaller numbers than the massive crowds that jammed downtown streets March 25 and May 1.

"We're not criminals, we're not terrorists," said Socorro Berberian, a 45-year-old Ventura preschool teacher who came here illegally from Mexico 30 years ago, but has since become a U.S. citizen. "We're just normal people, looking for work."

While previous protests were raucous affairs that filled the streets with marchers for blocks upon blocks, Saturday felt smaller and more orderly.

Parents wheeled their children in strollers; kids toted signs demanding respect and justice for families.

Toward the front, labor unions hauled banners proclaiming solidarity. A few blocks back, near the tail end of the procession, more-extreme groups wearing bandanas and carrying signs likening Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., author of a controversial bill calling for the prohibition of aid for undocumented immigrants, to Nazis.

The march was a prelude to a larger Labor Day gathering planned for Monday in downtown Los Angeles, where state and local officials are
expected to gather at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for a Labor Day breakfast in advance of a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

"The momentum went out in the spring, but I think it'll be back again," said Eugene Hernandez, 54, of Sylmar, a Green Party member, social worker and second-generation Mexican-American. "This helps empower the undocumented people. They're not citizens, but they have tremendous political impact."

Pete Sake, a rapper and warehouse worker, came to the United States at the age of 3 and later became a citizen. With a group of friends, he walked through the sweltering heat and chanted.

"I gave up my Saturday because I see these people out here and they're the future of America," the 20-year-old said. "It's a beautiful thing, people of all different colors working together. Regardless of what people think of this march, we're out there working, proving the point that we're not going to give up."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... california

L.A. March Presses for Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants
Participants call attention to the plight of women separated from families by deportation.
By Rong-Gong Lin II and Ted Rohrlich, Times Staff Writers
September 3, 2006


More than 1,000 marchers took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to call for a general amnesty for illegal immigrants and highlight the troubles of women facing deportation.

Organizers put the crowd at 5,000, while police estimated 1,500.

"We're telling Congress we're still here, waiting for a positive answer," said Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, a popular Spanish-language radio deejay, who helped turn out 500,000 people for a demonstration in March against federal legislation cracking down on illegal immigration.

Saturday's demonstration focused largely on undocumented immigrant women threatened with deportation.

It spotlighted the case of a cleaning woman from Mexico who has taken refuge in a Chicago storefront church to avoid being deported.

Elvira Arellano, 31, was arrested in 2002 for using a fake Social Security number to obtain a job at O'Hare International Airport and has been fighting since then for permission to stay in the country with her 7-year-old U.S.-born son.

"We're here for Elvira," said truck driver Trini Quezada, 48, who related that he has been in the country illegally for 32 years.

Arellano's situation hit close to home for many of the marchers, including Patricia Figueroa, a Coachella Valley teacher who said she has seen schoolchildren abandoned when their mothers are deported.

Some children have wound up with relatives or neighbors, and others have been placed in foster care, she said.

Sergio Hernandez, an undocumented construction worker from Mexico, and his U.S.-born teenage daughter, Daleth, said they feared this could happen to them.

"If they catch my mom and dad, we'll have to be sent to a foster home," said Daleth, 17, referring to her three siblings.

But while many of the marchers were concerned about the prospects of being separated from their families, Salvador Hernandez was dealing with the reality.

Hernandez, a U.S. citizen born in Mexico, has been separated for more than two years from his Argentine-born wife, who overstayed her visitor's visa and was sent to Argentina to apply for legal entry to the U.S.

Salvador Hernandez said she remains there with their 3-year-old daughter because her paperwork has disappeared in the U.S. government bureaucracy.

He carried a sign that said, "Help Me Reunify My Family."

"If they catch my mom and dad, we'll have to be sent to a foster home," said Daleth, 17, referring to her three siblings.

I don't know how many ways to say this, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SEPARATED! You are welcome to leave with your family or stay, it's your choice. Don't blame our laws, designed to protect American citizens, for your situation. Place the blame where it belongs, on your parents!

My feelings exactly MW!

I agree 100% MW and Had_enuf.

As far as I know there is no problem with taking their children with them, in fact I believe they can have a dual citizenship so the child can return to the US anytime s/he wants to.

"We're here for Elvira," said truck driver Trini Quezada, 48, who related that he has been in the country illegally for 32 years.

An illegal alien with a CDL license....so much for Homeland Security!

>>>"We're not criminals, we're not terrorists," <<<

They are criminals for being here illegally, and they are terrorising the legal American community with their pathetic and unlawful marching.

The military should be brought in to arrest every one of them. While our soldiers are fighting an illegal war in Iraq, our own country is falling into the hands of illegal. Georgie just sits back and does his usual....NOTHING!

Originally Posted by MountainDog

As far as I know there is no problem with taking their children with them, in fact I believe they can have a dual citizenship so the child can return to the US anytime s/he wants to.

I don't understand how an illegal invader can give birth in this country and her child becomes legal. Does that make sense? Elvira's child is just as illegal as she is. Both of them need to be shipped back to Mexico with a no return postage stamp.

"We're not criminals, we're not terrorists," said Socorro Berberian, a 45-year-old Ventura preschool teacher who came here illegally from Mexico 30 years ago, but has since become a U.S. citizen.

Another fine example of an amnesty recipient. Just got to keep giving America away to people who have more Honor for Mexico and will demand things of us.

That guy might as well be spitting on us. He got his ill-gotten citizenship and received opportunities, now he is mistreating the very people that gave him what he has today. I will be surprised if he did not get Amnesty in 86. Even if he didn't he was given citizens ship even though he committed a criminal act.

Yep, need more path-to-citizenship amnesty!!!!!!! They are marching today making demands, what will they be doing, if we give the other 20 mil+ amnesty? Can you imagine?

Dixie