Immigration protest at S.F. Ballet gala
Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, January 22, 2009




Singing, chanting and calling on local and national officials for more compassionate immigration policies, more than 200 immigrants and their allies marched Wednesday through San Francisco's City Hall, startling the tuxedo- and ball gown-clad guests arriving for the opening night gala of the San Francisco Ballet.


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The protesters were among thousands of activists who converged on Washington and other cities, from San Jose to Chicago, to remind President Obama on his first day in office of his commitment to allow illegal immigrants to earn legal status and to call for a moratorium on immigration raids.

"With the new administration, there's hope; that's why we're here," said protester Lulu Rodriguez, 28. Organizers said the protest was timed to the president's first day in office, not to disrupt the Ballet event.

As Ballet supporters sipped wine in the City Hall rotunda, the voices of the protesters singing Mexican folk songs outside the mayor's office echoed off the building's stone walls.

In Washington, religious leaders led a symbolic "cleansing" outside the headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that is responsible for enforcing immigration laws inside the United States.

The event attracted several hundred immigrant supporters who joined in rituals, involving incense and music, meant to condemn Bush administration immigration policies while showing support for President Obama and hoping to push him for a prompt immigration overhaul.

Over the past two years, ICE dramatically increased enforcement, arresting tens of thousands of individuals who were fugitives from deportation orders. Thousands of other illegal immigrants were arrested at their jobs at meatpacking plants and other workplaces.

Immigrant advocates complain that deporting undocumented immigrants is unfair when there are few avenues by which they can obtain legal status. And they say the raids are tearing apart families that include both U.S. citizens or legal residents and immigrants without legal status.

"Enforcement activity has done nothing but wreak havoc on immigrant families," said Evelyn Sanchez, advocacy coordinator for the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition. "Our argument is, don't enforce the laws that we all agree are broken and outdated."

Coordinated protests, most of them involving dozens or hundreds of people, took place in other cities Wednesday, including Fresno, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York, Houston, Milwaukee and Tucson.

For several years, national pro-immigrant, labor and religious organizations have pressed the case for "comprehensive" immigration reform in negotiations with congressional leaders. But some community-based immigrant groups believe their call for more liberal immigration policies have not been heeded. So they were pleased when an Obama-appointed task force on immigration policy met in early January with 15 leaders from grassroots immigrant groups.

In addition to pushing for immigration reform from Washington, local immigrant advocates at San Francisco's City Hall on Wednesday afternoon also wanted to pressure Mayor Gavin Newsom to reverse a 6-month-old policy of reporting juveniles arrested for a felony to federal immigration authorities. The policy has led to 57 juveniles being referred to ICE since July, said mayoral spokesman Nathan Ballard.

"We understand the city not wanting to have people who commit violent crimes being protected," said Ana Pérez, director of the Central American Resource Center. "We're asking for due process for all children, so kids can see a judge who can determine whether the child has committed a crime, and if referral to ICE happens, that it happens at discharge, not at the point when the child is charged with a crime."

Newsom still supports San Francisco's immigrant sanctuary policy, but believes that the law was not intended to shield criminals, said Ballard. He added that Newsom supports many of the goals of the immigrant rights groups.

"The mayor agrees that it's time for federal immigration reform," said Ballard. "Now we have leadership in Washington, D.C, with the commitment to dealing with this issue so the cities are not left to deal with it on their own."

E-mail Tyche Hendricks at thendricks@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle


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