Thread: Organizers Of Immigration March Clashing Over Tactics

Organizers of immigration march clashing over tacticsDaniel González
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 28, 2007 12:00 AM

The broad coalition that organized the major march in downtown Phoenix a year ago to drum up support for legalizing undocumented immigrants has disintegrated into a feud over power, money and control.

That discord will mean a far smaller crowd when supporters stage another march on Tuesday. Organizers expect 5,000 to 10,000 people to march from the state fairgrounds to the state Capitol. That will be just a fraction of the more than the estimated 100,000 who packed the same route with a river of humanity on April 10, 2006.

The march is one of several events planned for Tuesday in cities around the country. The goal is to press Congress to pass reforms this year after failing to do so last year. But, like the march in Phoenix, those events are not expected to draw the massive crowds of last year, a sign that the immigration-reform movement has become more divided as Congress prepares to once again take up the contentious issue, including what to do with the estimated 11 million to 12 million immigrants in the country illegally. advertisement




Organizers of the Phoenix march say they expect a lower turnout because of the climate of fear created by an increase in work-site raids, deportations and local police working with federal authorities to arrest illegal immigrants. That has made undocumented immigrants more reluctant to come out of the shadows and march openly the way they did last year, organizers say.

But behind-the-scenes clashes over the details of an immigration-reform bill have fractured the dozens of labor unions, churches, immigrant groups and Latino organizations that united under the We Are America/Somos America coalition, which organized last year's demonstration, the largest in Arizona history.

Reform groups also have clashed over tactics, leadership and fundraising methods. As a result, the We Are America coalition has opted to sit this march out. So have the Service Employers International Union, which provided much of the organizing muscle for last year's march, and La Campesina, a popular Spanish radio station.

That has left only a small core of groups to plan, organize, raise money and publicize Tuesday's march.

"There is division within the movement, but we don't like to make that public," said Hector Yturralde, president of We Are America.


Pressing Congress
Although the immigration-reform movement has grown more divided, groups remain united in the goal of pressing Congress to pass a bill that includes a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, said Germonique Jones, spokeswoman for the Center for Community Change. The non-profit social-justice network based in Washington, D.C., played a large role in coordinating and organizing activities around the country.

Instead of marches and rallies, many groups are focusing on voter-registration drives, citizenship workshops, community building, civic forums and other activities.

"People are so focused on the public displays, like marches and rallies, they are missing the other ways people are involved," Jones said.

But Rusty Childress, founder of the anti-illegal-immigration group United for a Sovereign America, said the smaller turnout is a sign that stepped-up enforcement efforts are working to curtail illegal immigration in Arizona. Fewer people may be planning to show up to the rally after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio recently began using federally trained deputies to arrest illegal immigrants.
"This attrition through enforcement does seem to be having an impact," Childress said. "The message is getting out that if you enforce the law, people will self-deport."
Groups squabble
Reform groups are squabbling over the provisions of an immigration-reform bill. In March, Arizona Republican Reps. Jeff Flake and Illinois Democrat Luis Gutierrez introduced a bill in the House that would offer legalization to undocumented immigrants, but first the immigrants would have to return to their home countries. The We Are America coalition opposes the "touch back" provision because it takes a tougher stance toward undocumented immigrants than the immigration bill passed by the Senate last year.

Other groups say a touch-back compromise may be the only way to get an immigration bill through Congress.

Elias Bermudez, president of Immigrants Without Borders, believes that the majority of illegal immigrants don't want a path to citizenship, only the legal right to work.

"There are some people who, for political reasons, want to create a new citizenry, but 80 percent of people who come here only come because they want to work," said Bermudez, one of the main organizers of Tuesday's march.

That viewpoint infuriates Alfredo Gutierrez, a former Democratic state senator, who wants Congress to pass more-generous reforms for undocumented immigrants.

Gutierrez, host of a talk-radio program on La Campesina, was one of the main leaders of last year's megamarch. But he has refused to back Tuesday's event after butting heads with Bermudez over the Flake bill. Gutierrez also criticized Bermudez for raising money for the march by selling sponsorships to businesses in exchange for advertisements on fliers, banners and T-shirts.

"They are commercializing it," Gutierrez said. "Elias is selling the march. He's making a business out of it."

Bermudez disagrees.

"What's the problem?" he said. "What's wrong with letting people know which businesses profit from the Latino community and also support the march? That's all we wanted to do."

Nevertheless, the criticism prompted organizers to stop placing advertising on promotional materials.

"We don't want to give Alfredo any ammunition," said Lydia Hernandez, another march organizer.

The main goal of the march is to keep comprehensive immigration reform in the public forefront, Hernandez said.

If Congress fails to pass immigration reform this summer, the issue will most likely be dead for another two years until after the presidential elections. "There is a sense of urgency," Hernandez said. But training a new generation of Latino leaders is also part of the goal, and that threatens some of the "Old Guard," Hernandez said.


Building support
To build support for the march, organizers are circulating thousands of fliers to homes, churches and community events. They are erecting lawn signs in immigrant neighborhoods, plugging the march on Spanish radio and television, and uploading a video on YouTube. And they are urging students to ask for excused absences to participate. State schools Superintendent Tom Horne, however, said Friday that public school students will not be allowed to miss school to march.

Until now, the immigrant rights movement in Phoenix has been made up almost exclusively of Latinos. But organizers have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to reach out to African-Americans, Asians and other minority groups to join their cause.

"Everybody has their day on the chopping block. In the 1960s and 1970s, the African-American community was on the chopping block. Now, it's the Latino community that is on the chopping block," Heather Jenkins said at a meeting this month at Southminster Presbyterian Church in south Phoenix. The meeting was designed to enlist African-American and Asian community leaders to support the march.

Bobby Thompson Jr., the lone African-American at the meeting, said immigration reform doesn't resonate with most Blacks. He said African-Americans also would have a hard time backing immigration reform when Latino candidates have tried to unseat the only African-American in the state Legislature, Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor.
"I will say, if you want to get the African-American community along, you are gong to have to change the approach," Thompson said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... h0428.html

If Congress fails to pass immigration reform this summer, the issue will most likely be dead for another two years until after the presidential elections. "There is a sense of urgency," Hernandez said. But training a new generation of Latino leaders is also part of the goal, and that threatens some of the "Old Guard," Hernandez said.

Immigration reform is going to be DEAD and BURIED through the
united efforts of patriotic Americans, Lydia, so BRACE yourself for reality! We are awake and very POed!

Oh come on march!!! You know you want to...

How interesting. I just read the article on how the raid may galvinize marchers in the Chicago area. I'm sure we will all be back here Tuesday evening discussing how the day went. Excuse me I'm going to go shopping for some party items.