Thread: US Immigrant Groups To March A Day After Obama Takes Over

US Immigrant Groups To March A Day After Obama Takes Over

Wednesday November 12nd, 2008 / 6h34



WASHINGTON (AFP)--Immigrant rights organizations have called for a major march on Washington on January 21, the day after Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th U.S. president.
Defenders and advocates of tens of millions of immigrants will take to the streets to press their case for immigration reform and remind Obama of one of the policy planks he plugged on the campaign stump as he wooed the Hispanic vote.
"On January 21 we will be here in Washington to ask for reforms and for an end to the raids" at workplaces that have seen illegal immigrants arrested and deported, said Angelica Salas, director of the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.
"We ask the president-elect to consider immigration reform one of his 10 domestic priorities," she said Tuesday, adding that she hoped reform legislation would begin "in the first 100 days" of an Obama administration.
Congress failed to pass the most recent version of sweeping immigration legislation, in 2007, which would have given legal status and a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States.
Obama and his rival in the 2008 presidential race, Republican Senator John McCain, had been involved in negotiations over the text, and immigration reform earned broad support from both Obama and McCain on the 2008 campaign trail.
But in the final months before the election, immigration swiftly took a back seat to the deepening and more pressing economic crisis.
"We know it is important for our country," Salas said, referring to the financial meltdown, but "we understand that we must also work for the other things that are very important."
Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said organizers were "trying to mobilize tens of thousands of immigrants" for the march, which would highlight the vital role immigrants could play in an American economic recovery.
"The kind of effort we are going to make as a country to get us out of this economic mess is going to be required of any one of us, including immigrants," said Chung-Wha.
The immigrant vote proved crucial for an Obama victory, march organizers have said.
Hispanics cast about 10 million votes - 30% more than in 2004, according to experts - and fully 67% of them voted for Obama and for congressional Democrats who reinforced their party's majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives.
With just ten weeks left in the administration of President George W. Bush, Chung-Wha pleaded for a moratorium on the highly controversial raids to round up and deport illegals.
Critics stress that the raids, undertaken by police and the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, end up tearing families apart and devastating businesses which serve immigrant communities.
Such raids prompted angry marches in dozens of American cities in 2006.
Organizers of the January 21 march, totaling some 30 nongovernmental organizations, announced they will quickly begin lobbying lawmakers in Congress to drive the immigration agenda.
"We are going to push it and keep it as a priority," said Jessica Alvarez, president of the National Capital Immigration Coalition.

www.easybourse.com

And we are going to push back. Back all the way to the border or across the sea.

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

And we are going to push back. Back all the way to the border or across the sea.

THANK YOU! I believe it's time WE marched also! There's strength in numbers, and it's time for us to show just how strong AND angry we are about this issue.

No! No! No! Organizing a march takes money time and effort it is much better for us to be a visible televised counter presence at the marches that they pay and organize so that when there is a resulting majority voter backlash the average amnesty opponent looking in their home knows what to do to be heard by their legislators.

"Chung-Wha pleaded for a moratorium on the highly controversial raids to round up and deport illegals."

What universe are they from...the only thing highly "controversial" is why tens of millions of illegal aliens were allowed to sneak in and settle down in such huge numbers without penalty.

Originally Posted by Richard

No! No! No! Organizing a march takes money time and effort it is much better for us to be a visible televised counter presence at the marches that they pay and organize so that when there is a resulting majority voter backlash the average amnesty opponent looking in their home knows what to do to be heard by their legislators.

Agreed. I say we organize all of our allied groups to get anti-illegal immigration faces to Washington on 1-21-09.

Is there a group(s) in DC who might be willing to take up the lead on this?

I really hope these criminals aren't offered amnesty, but if they are, there are certain groups of people that should be deported rather than offered citizenship.
Those, such as Obama's aunt, who have been previously ordered deported.
Those who have been arrested for any crime.
Those whose record shows they have voted, or registered to vote, and did so after checking a box claiming American citizenship.
Men who were here after their 18th birthday who didn't sign up for Selective Service in the time allowed. Yes, even illegals are supposed to sign up.
After the amnesty, if this happens, anyone - man, woman, child, woman with American children, who does not apply for amnesty (anyone who either doesn't qualify or doesn't want to become an American by choice.)
Also, after the amnesty, if it happens, citizenship should only go to newborns who have at least one American citizen parent. No more anchor babies.
Proof of work should be required. The id used to get a job should be matched against the list of registered voters. If not working, they should have to prove how they have been supporting themselves and their minor children. If they have used welfare, they should have to prove they did so admitting to welfare officials that they were in the country illegally, and not by using a fake id/someone elses social security number or birth certificate. If on welfare, they should prove they received enough money to pay rent, food, cleaning supplies for home, soap, clothes, etc. If they didn't receive enough, they should prove who else was paying their bills. This may at least prevent gang members without a felony arrest record, those that rob and steal and haven't been caught, those that are supported by criminals (wives, children, parents, brothers, aunts, of criminals)etc from becoming citizens.
Everyone should have to prove that they have been here at least 5 years, or be deported immediately. There are more than enough that have been here a long time, without allowing newcomers to jump on the bandwagon, and this would discourage even more coming in by the tens of thousands to get free citizenship.
If there must be an amnesty, America should only allow the most honest (none are honest, but some are much less honest than others) in. Not those that are nothing but a drain or those that support themselves or supplement their wages by selling drugs or stealing.
This should not be easy, not everyone should qualify, and those that don't but choose to stay anyways should face a severe penalty if they don't leave.

Stupid is as stupid does...everytime these illegals, and their ethno-supremacist advocates take to the streets they just waste their time...Americans have had enough of them and want them OUT. Let them march ....it will really show why deportations and raids must continue. Their marches and hissy-fits have accomplished NADA and they know it...they are just plain stupid and wasting their own money.

Originally Posted by legalatina

Stupid is as stupid does...everytime these illegals, and their ethno-supremacist advocates take to the streets they just waste their time...Americans have had enough of them and want them OUT. Let them march ....it will really show why deportations and raids must continue. Their marches and hissy-fits have accomplished NADA and they know it...they are just plain stupid and wasting their own money.

I agree when unemployment and lay offs, they will just make their case worse. Obama will be committing political suicide to approach this subject now.

The bigger the march the better for us.