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Posted on Fri, Jun. 16, 2006



Groups hope to tap passion for long term

BY CHRISTINA M. WOODS
The Wichita Eagle

Thousands of Hispanics took to the streets this spring in Wichita and cities across the nation in a passionate protest of immigration laws.

Now organizers are working to turn the momentum of those marches into a new political movement.

"I've never seen our community so passionate about an issue," said Anna Villarreal, a Wichita resident who was born in Los Angeles and is an American citizen.

In the past year, at least three new Hispanic organizations have emerged in Wichita. And local high schools are organizing chapters of Hispanos Unidos, an organization that pushes for immigrant access to driver's licenses and in-state college tuition.

For the first time, a representative of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund is conducting seminars in Wichita on issues of concern to immigrants.

A seminar today and Saturday is expected to draw Hispanic residents from as far away as Garden City and Salina.

Luis Figueroa, a legislative staff lawyer for the legal defense fund, will lead a session titled "From Protest to Progress: Learn, Lead, Change" to educate those who support rights for illegal immigrants and other Hispanics.

A free public symposium is set for 6 p.m. today at the Midtown Community Resource Center, 1150 N. Broadway.

The seminar continues Saturday with leadership training for teenagers.

The education and defense fund, created in 1968, is a litigation, advocacy and educational outreach organization that has offices in seven cities across the country.

"Wherever there is a growth in the Latino population," Figueroa said from his San Antonio office, "what immediately follows is an increase in civil rights issues."

But the unfolding movement has its critics.

Karmeleta Burnett of Wichita said the fight for illegal immigrants' rights belongs in their homelands.

"Why are you fighting over here?" Burnett said. "Why aren't you demanding your government do something about it so your next generation won't be trotting through the desert to search for financial stability?"

It started with farms

Watching the rallies and forums reminds Villarreal of her grandfather, Adolfo, who came to this country as a farm worker.

The government created a program during the 1940s for her grandfather -- and millions of other Mexican farm laborers called braceros -- to work in fields across this country.

Working conditions led Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to march for farm workers' rights along the West Coast in the 1950s and 1960s.

Villarreal is hoping the recent outpouring of emotions will translate into sustained effort.

"Hopefully, we can awaken people and mobilize them," Villarreal said. "Let's do something."

Villarreal said the training this weekend will give people -- particularly youths -- the information needed to drive the movementforward.

"Some people say, 'Well, they don't even know what they're marching for,' " Villarreal said. "They might not have known when they started, but they knew once they were done."

Debate in Congress

The Senate passed an immigration reform bill in May that included increased immigration enforcement along the border and in the workplace. It also included a temporary worker program and a way to citizenship for most illegal immigrants who have been in the United States at least two years.

The bill also includes provisions for erecting 350 miles of new border fencing, designating English as the national language and denying tax credits to low-income immigrants.

The House version, which passed in December, calls for 700 miles of border fencing and a provision that would make it a crime to offer services or assistance to illegal immigrants.

The two chambers have been unable so far to work out their differences on the bills, and many congressional observers doubt any immigration reform will pass this year.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates conservatively that about 50,000 illegal immigrants live in Kansas. That number is up from 15,000 in 1990.

In Wichita, Hispanics are now the city's largest minority group.

Some question how immigrants can march for rights if they are in the country illegally.

But Carlos Nolla, a local immigration lawyer, said illegal immigrants do have certain rights under the U.S. Constitution, including the right to a fair hearing before an immigration judge.

There are human rights considerations, as well, Nolla said, especially for American citizens who have illegal-immigrant family members.

Nolla and other Hispanic leaders are calling for Congress to stop putting the immigration issue on the back burner.

"What we face today," Nolla said, "is a bureaucratic system that is overburdened with caseloads and forced to operate under a broken system of laws."


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Reach Christina M. Woods at 316-269-6791 or cwoods@wichitaeagle.com.





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