Thread: March for equality in Illinois

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March for equality
Proposed changes in immigration law would offer path to citizenship

By David Garbe
staff writer

AURORA â€â€

There are too many American families suffering as a result of their presence, no drivers licenses, no instate tuition, no amnesty send them home. The obselence and injustice is non enforcement.

"Congressman Hastert, there are too many immigrant families suffering due to obsolete immigration laws," said Family Focus of Aurora director Gonzalo Arroyo to thunderous applause at the rally, "We ask you to pass real immigration reform."

Obsolete immigration laws??? If you don't like our laws then go back to Mexico or wherever you came from.

www.chicagotribune.com

Largely Hispanic crowd urges immigration aid
Hastert's support sought in Congress

By Michael Loomis
Special to the Tribune
Published September 26, 2005


A thousand flag-waving marchers filed into a gym in Aurora Sunday for a rally supporting immigration reform.

Starting at a church on High Street, the mostly Hispanic crowd crossed over the Fox River on the Illinois Avenue Bridge before gathering in Prisco Community Center.

Speakers at the event included local politicians, community leaders and Hispanic college students who said they face an uncertain future in the job market since they will have trouble obtaining basics such as Social Security numbers or a driver's license. They called on U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to support immigration reform.

This year Congress is slated to debate the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, a measure that would create a six-year track for immigrants to get green cards. Temporary visas would allow them to work in the U.S. After six years, if they can prove payment of federal taxes and pass an English test, they could apply for residency.

"We need to call on Speaker Hastert. He needs to be our voice in Washington in support of immigration reform," said Linda Ramirez Sliwinski, a village trustee from Carpentersville.

Hastert represents a district that, according to 2000 Census figures handed out at the rally by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, is 18 percent Hispanic.

Hastert was not at the event but said last week through spokesman Brad Hahn that he understands the urgency of the issue.

"He realizes the importance of addressing this," Hahn said of Hastert. "There are a lot of different ideas on all sides of the issue that need to be specifically addressed."

The packed bleachers in the community center gym were filled with not just Aurora residents, but with people from DeKalb, Chicago, Rock Falls and Rockford.

"The fact that [Hastert's] not here is an unfortunate sign of political disrespect for the people in his district," said Josh Hoyt, director of Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, based in Chicago. "But we know he's paying close attention."

Cindy Navejas, 23, a student at Northern Illinois University and a speaker at the rally, has lived in the U.S. since she was 3 years old but is still not a citizen.

"[Reform] would allow me to enter the workforce and have a path to citizenship, instead of just going back to Mexico with a diploma," she said.

Another speaker was Aaron Garcia, an Aurora firefighter who once was undocumented but has been a citizen since the 1980s. He was among the emergency personnel who went to Hastert's home during an anthrax scare in 2001.

"If we were good enough to risk our lives for people like him, we need him to pass this bill," Garcia said.