Thread: 100 decry immigrant attacks, smears at rally

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Article Launched: 05/24/2005 03:51:00 AM

100 decry immigrant attacks, smears at rally
A group marches on the state Capitol to demand better working conditions and gather support for a reform bill.
By Felisa Cardona
Denver Post Staff Writer




Gloria Becerrie, her sign reading "No to hunters of the undocumented," was among nearly 100 people who gathered near Civic Center on Monday to protest attack on illegal migrants. (Post / John Prieto)

Immigrant-bashing is on the rise in Colorado and support is needed to pass a comprehensive immigration-reform bill, activists said Monday.

During a rally near the state Capitol, nearly 100 people from several immigrant and worker organizations decried recent attacks on undocumented workers and demanded better working conditions for immigrants.

Organizers did not want to focus on the recent outcry over the illegal status of 19-year- old Raul Garcia-Gomez, the man suspected of killing Denver police Detective Donald Young, but they acknowledged it was part of the recent bashing.

Garcia-Gomez, who was in the country illegally, worked as a busboy at the Cherry Cricket, a restaurant co-owned by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

"Nobody that I know of is bashing immigrants," said U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "The issue is if people are here legally, and if not, they are illegal aliens."

Tancredo said Young's death is an event that has again brought the issue to the forefront.

"The thing that is happening is that a tide is beginning to turn, and people are becoming more and more convinced that something has to be done to control this problem and truly reform these immigration policies," he said. "Of course, the case in Denver has been the murder of the Denver policeman.

"Oftentimes, it's the regrettable situation in our country that ... will catalyze people about something that had to be done a long time ago."

Gabriela Flora of the American Friends Service Committee said undocumented workers cannot be lumped together with someone who is accused of committing a crime.

Most undocumented workers are not being paid adequate wages or being offered basic workers' rights, she said.

Flora said a recent example of abuse was of an undocumented immigrant working for a roofing company who was injured when he fell from a building. The employer did not pay for his medical expenses, Flora said.

Lisa Durán of Rights for All People said the rally was put together to gain support for bipartisan immigration-reform legislation that was introduced in Washington by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

The legislation would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and provide worker protections, Durán said.

"We want reform so that the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable will not be punished anymore," she said.

Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.

I would have all those illegals arrested for breaking, enterring, and loitering.

I'm very confused, once again........
If they CAN'T WRITE IN ENGLISH, HOW ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HECK THEY'RE SAYING?

In Mexico it is against the law for anyone not a Mexican citizen to openly protest.

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

I'm very confused, once again........
If they CAN'T WRITE IN ENGLISH, HOW ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HECK THEY'RE SAYING?

Sign language! Sort of like DQ's avatar! It makes a statement, without being overly loud and rambunctious!

Sign language!

I only know one thing in sign language. Would be appropriate for these "protestors."

This is pathetic. They are right in Mexico on one thing, then. Non-Mexican citizens cannot protest. Personally, I agree with that. People who are not legal citizens of a country should not be able protest.

MY GOD, we have LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZENS being denied their right to assembly and to protest and to free speech here in America. These are anti-illegal immigration people. They are U.S. citizens, and these people who are breaking the law before the people's very eyes are permitted?