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Protesters rally against immigration bills
By Leland Ornelaz, lornelaz@VenturaCcountyStar.com
June 16, 2006

Protesters continued the demonstrations against Congressional immigration reforms during a rally Thursday at Oxnard's Plaza Park.

Close to 30 people gathered at the 6 p.m. event organized by the May Day Coalition for Students and Workers Justice, an immigration rights advocacy group.

The crowd marched the perimeter of the plaza carrying a banner with the phrase "Somos un pueblo unido" (We are a village united) painted on an orange eagle with outstretched wings, the symbol of the United Farm Workers Union.

Some carried signs with slogans reading "The workers' struggle has no border" and "We feed America, we are America."

"Que queremos" (What do we want), one of the protesters shouted. "Justicia" (Justice), answered the crowd. Occasionally a passing motorist would honk and raise a fist in support; one woman flashed a peace sign.

The rally is the latest in a series of protests against immigration bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

The first massive demonstration occurred March 25 when 500,000 immigrants and activists marched through downtown Los Angeles to protest HR4437. The bill, passed by the House in December, declared illegal immigration a felony and toughened border security. Marches were held in other cities across the nation that day.

Immigrant rights groups also organized a May 1 boycott and another march in Los Angeles.

In Ventura County, 300 high school students from Oxnard converged March 27 at the plaza to rally against the bill. On May 1, 2,500 people met at Oxnard Plaza for a rally organized by the coalition.

The coalition organized Thursday's protest to keep the debate alive and inform the public about a Senate bill passed May 25 called the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, or the Hagel-Martinez compromise. The act allows illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for five years to attain citizenship but would deport those who have lived in the United States less than two years. The bill also calls for the deployment of National Guard troops to the border. Currently, Congress is still debating immigration reform, and neither bill is law, although National Guard troops deployed the beginning of June.

"We're not going to support any compromise," said Sol Porras, a coalition member. "Some portion of the bill (Hagel-Martinez) still calls for deportation, and we don't approve of it."

Porras said the coalition's stance on reform is full legalization, no on HR4437 and the reform act and stop the militarization of the borders.

Mayra Juarez, 21, a member of the coalition who helped organize Thursday's event, said immigrants just want work and a place to live. "I see the people in Oxnard working so hard because they don't have papers," Juarez said.

Protester Diana Cortez is against the deployment of troops to the border. "We don't need another Berlin Wall," Cortez said into a loudspeaker. "You can't tear our families apart. No human being is illegal."

Daniel Navarette, 30, a field worker who listened to protesters address the crowd, said he appreciated what the coalition was doing. "We want everyone to be equal," said Navarette. "We only want to work, and they should respect that."

Louie Moreno, a member of Raza Rights, said although the protest was not huge, it doesn't matter.

"You don't need an army to change things, you just need one person committed to humanity."