Thread: Immigration rally pushes for reforms

May 2, 2007, 1:19AM
Immigration rally pushes for reforms
As momentum lags, 100 protest here for the cause that drew 10,000 marchers last year


By JENALIA MORENO and SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

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A partnership study found that about 250,000 unauthorized immigrants work in the Houston area, making up nearly 10 percent of the work force and contributing $27.3 billion to the area's gross regional product.

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Complete coverage of immigration issues About 100 immigrant advocates gathered in downtown Houston on Tuesday afternoon to protest recent workplace raids and push for major immigration reform, hoping to regain the political momentum of last spring.

The protest coincided with demonstrations in Los Angeles, Dallas and other cities, but the turnout in Houston fell far short of that in other cities. It also failed to come close to the estimated 10,000 who marched here last May 1.

"People are intimidated. They're scared," said 22-year-old Juan Hernandez, who joined protesters on the sidewalk outside the Mickey Leland Federal Building. "People who are undocumented leave for work every day with the fear that they won't come home to their families."

Immigration experts had predicted the lower turnout compared with last year, when Houston had a more organized movement and Congress was considering legislation that threatened to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

"Last time, there was a bill coming out of the House, and people felt threatened and vulnerable," said Nestor Rodriguez, co-director for the University of Houston's Center for Immigration Research. "In L.A., you have many more organizations that work in mobilizing people. The resources simply don't exist in Houston."

Despite the massive marches and political rhetoric of the past year, there's been no reform in Washington, D.C. A half-dozen protesters started a hunger strike in Houston on Tuesday, Hernandez said, calling it a "drastic" measure to get politicians' attention.

Proponents of immigration reform hope Congress tackles the issue this year, before next year's presidential election forces the issue to the back burner.

Many of the nation's business groups are lobbying for immigration reform.

"There's too many industries dependent on immigrant labor," said Jacob Monty, a Houston immigration lawyer who represents employers. "You can't just blame one industry."

Last year, the Greater Houston Partnership approved a resolution supporting comprehensive immigration reform that creates a temporary-worker program allowing companies to recruit immigrant workers when there's a shortage of domestic workers.

In the past year, immigration authorities have made headlines cracking down on such employers of undocumented workers.

"I think ICE is doing their job, and honestly, I think it's constructive that they are," said Michael P. Jackson, the deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

A March 6 raid of a New Bedford, Mass., leather factory resulted in the detention of 361 undocumented immigrants, and stories circulated through the immigrant community there of small children and babies separated from their parents.

Attorneys for some of the immigrants, many of whom are being held in Texas detention centers, said their clients were not given access to lawyers or informed of their rights, allegations that immigration officials dispute.

"There was a lot of false information surrounding that," Jackson said of the raid.

In the Houston area, immigration authorities have conducted several raids at restaurants and waste firms in the past year.

At the rally, many protesters attributed the lower turnout to the raids, saying they had friends or family members who decided to stay home this time.

"I'm not surprised, but I'm also not discouraged" by the turnout, said Liliana Castillo, a 20-year-old University of Houston student. "If one person comes out, that keeps the hope. That keeps the faith. That keeps me here."

On the street corner, they chanted "Vamos a ganar." "We are going to win."

jenalia.moreno@chron.com susan.carroll@chron.com

America wake up. or there won't be a America, Just another third world country.

Many of the nation's business groups are lobbying for immigration reform.

FYI: I happen to have the luck to be standing with BIG CONSTRUCTION lobbyists waiting to go thru the metal detector into one of the buildings on the Hill.

Low and behold.........they were there to lobby for the NASCO SUPER HIGHWAY - "INFRASTRUCURE" and were a well oiled machine!
Divided into sections for lobbying - even "education!"