Thread: 50-Mile Immigration March Ends Labor Day With 2K in Chicago

Sep 3, 2006 10:37 pm US/Central

50-Mile Immigration March Ends Labor Day
Most Pariticpants Are Latino, But Marchers Come From Around The Globe

(CBS) CHICAGO A four day long, 40-mile immigration march and fight for immigration reform is scheduled to end on Labor Day.

About 500 marchers started in Chicago's Chinatown Aug. 31 and they're heading to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert's office in Batavia.

So far, the marchers have gone through Cicero, Villa Park, West Chicago, and other suburbs. Participants want Hastert to push for the stalled immgration proposals in Congress.

Hastert isn't expected to be in his office when the marchers arrive Monday.

While the majority of marchers are Latino, the demonstration has featured immigrants from South Korea, India, the Philippines, and many other countries.

The march symbolizes the time it takes Mexican immigrants to cross the desert to safety over the border – a line that some lawmakers, including Hastert, want to see under much tighter security.

Organizers said they chose Hastert's Batavia office as the march's ultimate destination to highlight what they say are his anti-immigration positions. Hastert has suggested fences, pedestrian inhibitors and the use of the Army Corps of Engineers and Border Patrol could be used to help seal the country's border with Mexico.

The march began in Chinatown to the beat of a Chinese drum. Marchers said they chose the Chinatown to demonstrate that this country is a nation of immigrants and that many of them feel the pain of waiting for years at a time for relatives to gain permission to come to the United States and make their families whole again.

Many of the participants have waited years for family members to gain permission to come to the United States.

“For the Asian community, this is about family unification,” said Filipino-American marcher Lawrence Benito, whose mother moved here decades ago to work as a nurse. “My mother has been waiting 23 years for her brother to come here.”

“We're marching because there are over one million Asian-Americans who are also undocumented; we're marching because hundreds of thousands of Asian-American families are separated,” said Becky Belcore of the Korean-American Resource and Cultural Center.

The marchers trekked through the Little Village neighborhood on the Near Southwest Side, and entered Cicero later on Friday. They made their first overnight stop there, and gathered in a church parking lot, where they heard Bible verses read in five languages.

They want immigration reform, something that has reached a stalemate in Washington.

Hastert, whose district includes some of Chicago's suburbs and outlying rural counties, has been emphasizing the immigration issue in making the case to voters that they should keep Congress in GOP hands.

“In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans are working together; the president is willing to work with the Democrats on this,” said Joshua Hoyt of the Immigration Coalition. ”Speaker Hastert decided that he wants to use this for short-term, cheap, political advantage.”

Brad Hahn, a spokesman for Hastert, said that the speaker is not planning to meet with the marchers and is not planning on even being in his office Monday. But he said Hastert is focused on the issue, has talked to people on all sides of the debate and has visited the United States-Mexico border.

"It's important to note it isn't a question of who can yell the loudest, but finding the most effective solutions to securing the borders and strengthening our immigration system," Hahn said.

In Little Village, the protestors were welcomed by hundreds of supporters, including several priests.

“Many families that I know in my own parish, they've been waiting 12, 15, 17 years,” said Fr. Peter McQuinn of Priests for Justice for Immigrants. “And, you know, so it's just like why is it taking so long?”

But the marchers are not going unchallenged. Opponents with the Illinois Minutemen are at several stops along the route.

“We're outraged at them. We've been outraged for years!” said Carl Segvich of the Chicago Minutemen Project.

Segvich said all illegal immigrants should be arrested and kicked out of the country.

“We will be destroyed from within, and that's what we're witnessing sadly, tragically today. We're being invaded and taken over by illegal aliens,” he said.

Hundreds more immigrants joined the procession as it traveled through Melrose Park and Wheaton.

The march is sponsored by Miller Beer.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_245085148.html

http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=224154

Immigration march ends
BY GALA M. PIERCE
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Monday, September 04, 2006


Participants in an immigrant rights rally Monday urged one of the most powerful men in Congress to fix the immigration system.

The rally, which drew a crowd of about 2,000, took place in front of House Speaker Dennis Hastert's Batavia office and wrapped up a four-day walk from Chicago.

"We don't want more people to die on the border," said Jose Artemio Arreola, one of about 20 who talked in front of the energized crowd about the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

Arreola serves on the executive committee of the Service Employees International Union Local 73. To keep within the theme of Labor Day, many also spoke about immigrant workers rights and wages.No one was inside Hastert's office, but Hastert spokesman Brad Hahn said he is listening to all sides of the issue. While Hastert has backed legislation that strengthens the borders, he would not support laws that provide amnesty to illegal immigrants, Hahn said.

About 300 people walked the entire four-day 42-mile trek from Chicago's Chinatown to Batavia, which represents the distance of crossing the border.

Gabriel Gonzalez, an emcee of the rally and the Midwest regional organizer with Center for Community Change, said they accomplished what they set out to do - to highlight the issue and reenergize those who marched in crowds earlier this year. The groups received the toughest reception in Villa Park and other parts of DuPage County, Gonzalez said.

The crowd chanted "si se puede" or "yes we can" as well as "Today we march; in November, we vote" over and over again. They also held up crosses representing those who died while crossing the border and waved American flags.

It was within earshot of about 200 people protesting the group, with the two groups separated by barricades and 25 police officers holding wooden batons.

The rally was kept peaceful with the help of seven police agencies. However, two people were detained by the Batavia Police Department at the end of the rally, Cmdr. Greg Thrun said.

Police were investigating a male juvenile from Batavia who was accused of throwing eggs at the crowd on the 100 block of North River Street.

Also, a police officer witnessed Ronald Ruhl, 31, Melrose Park, spitting on someone on the Wilson Street bridge, and he was charged with disorderly conduct.

As the crowd entered Batavia about noon, about 75 people waited at the northwest corner of Fabyan Parkway and Kirk Road to join them. Among them were Ed and Josephine Miller of St. Charles, who waited with their son, 16-year-old Jorge Jeria.

"Immigrants have a long history of valuable contributions to this country," said Ed Miller, whose heritage is Canadian and European. Josephine Miller said both of her parents were undocumented when they emigrated from Mexico to work, although they became naturalized citizens in the 1970s.Also joining the crowd was Monica Ruiz of Oswego, who wore an American flag like a shawl. She held a sign that said "Somos America" or "We are America"

At 17, Ruiz followed her brothers' path by crossing the border in Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, Mexico, with her husband. The 33-year-old woman said to cross legally would have taken money they didn't have.

"It was easier back then," she said, which is why she has not been back to visit Mexico for 15 years.

Along with her undocumented family, Analidia Marcelina, a 12-year-old from West Chicago, also joined the marchers on Fabyan. She wore a red shirt that said "Fighting for Our Future, Unite Free!"

"We are here because we want to have papers," she said. "We want to keep studying here in the United States. We want to be able to (lawfully) visit our families in Mexico."

gpierce@dailyherald.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... i-news-hed

Immigrant-rights supporters rally outside Hastert's home office

By Sara Olkon
Tribune staff reporter

September 4, 2006, 9:59 PM CDT

Passion filled six blocks of Batavia on Monday as approximately 2,000 immigrant rights activists rallied near the home office of U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

"Yes we can!" a jubilant crowd cried in Spanish. "We are America!"

Hundreds of marchers held up white wooden crosses symbolizing Mexicans who have died trying to cross the border into the United States.

For this pro-immigration force, the afternoon marked the end of a four-day, 45-mile walk that started in Chicago's Chinatown Square and spanned the city's western suburbs. About 250 marchers walked the entire distance. Others showed up at one or more of the neighborhood rallies in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood or in Cicero, Melrose Park, Villa Park and West Chicago.

The group wants Hastert, a Republican, to offer legalization for the nation's 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants and to put a moratorium on raids and deportations by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Organizers also have planned a town hall meeting for Tuesday morning at a nearby church.

"There should be some ways for [illegal immigrants] to become legal," said Esther Wong, executive director of the Chinese American Service League. "They just want a better life."

Also on hand Monday were about 150 counter-protesters, including members of the Chicago Minuteman Project.

Police kept a buffer zone in place to keep the groups apart. At least 50 armed police officers, some from other jurisdictions, stood watch with batons and police helmets at the ready. There were no reports of violence as of Monday evening.

Emotion and name-calling were plentiful.

Counter-protesters repeatedly yelled "Go home" and "March to Mexico" as the immigration march made its way down Wilson Street.

"Do you need a translation?" truck driver Paul Klein, 51, of Des Plaines screamed out. "Illegal is a crime."

Over the din of clashing agendas, marchers played the civil rights song "We Shall Overcome" over a loudspeaker.

For Batavia resident Jeff Patterson, the demonstration was unwelcome.

"I can't even park in front of my house," said Patterson, 60, a part-time school bus driver.

It turned out that the inconvenience only compounded existing anger. He said he lost his job doing heavy maintenance to undocumented workers.

"They are thumbing their noses at our laws," Patterson said.

Maria Jefferson said she would no longer drink Miller Lite, her beer of choice, after learning that the brewer sponsored the march with more than $30,000.

"I'm switching to Budweiser," said the Braidwood woman, who runs a day-care service out of her home. She held up a sign encouraging "the legal American consumer" to boycott Miller products.

Saul Morquecho, a father of four who lives in Gage Park, had a different view. The construction worker walked all 45 miles to show his support.

"This is a call from my heart," said the 35-year-old native of Tijuana, Mexico. "Physically, I am tired, but spiritually I can feel a strong power here."

Josh Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, deemed the four-day demonstration a success.

"We had no idea how hard it would be logistically [or] how the reception would be," he said. "By and large, [people] honked, waved and cheered."

As they marched into Batavia this morning, he said, the marchers were greeted with plates of fried chicken and watermelon.

Hastert did not meet with the marchers during the two-hour rally. But in a statement broadcast on CLTV on Monday, Hastert reiterated his commitment to border security.

"What we need to do is stop the flow of a million illegal aliens across the border every year," he said. "Our border is bleeding to death and we need to stop the bleeding."

solkon@tribune.com