More immigration rallies planned

Dallas: Today's event is first of many to protest raids, push for reform


10:45 AM CDT on Saturday, March 24, 2007
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
dsolis@dallasnews.com

A rally for immigration reform will be at noon Saturday at Dallas City Hall.

The rally, which will also call for a halt to immigration raids, will kick off a wave of protests in the coming weeks.

Last year, in the biggest protest ever in Dallas, tens of thousands of people poured into the streets to protest federal legislation designed to crack down on illegal immigrants. A proposed bill contained language that declared that illegal immigrants would become felons; many immigration offenses are now administrative matters.

Rally organizers said they are encouraged that bills have been introduced in Congress for a comprehensive immigration overhaul that includes a path to legalization.

"It's important that these proposals are now back on the table," said Patricia Juárez, a rally coordinator for today's event.

Ms. Juárez belongs to Citizen Network/March 25th Alliance. The date refers to a grass-roots protest held last year by immigrant groups that drew about 2,000 people. It was followed by student walkouts from Dallas-area high schools, and then the mega-march, which drew between 350,000 to 500,000 persons.

On Wednesday, a candlelight vigil is planned at 6 p.m. at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. That vigil is meant to draw attention to the detention of families in Texas by federal immigration authorities. Protests over such detentions are growing because of increasing waves of immigration raids across the state and the nation.

On April 1, another rally is planned in front of Dallas City Hall. Among the organizers are the Dallas Peace Center, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American Civil Liberties Union. The rally from 2 to 5 p.m. will feature workshops on immigration rights, U.S. citizenship and voter registration. This year's rallies will not include street marches.

"This year, we are going from the defense to the offense," said lawyer Domingo Garcia, an organizer of the April 1 rally and last year's mega-march.

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