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Immokalee: A March For Understanding
Immigrants gather to bring attention to plight
Efforts for nationwide boycott of work March 1-7 under way

By Jason Wermers
jwermers@news-press.com
Originally posted on January 15, 2007




IMMOKALEE — About 100 Hispanic immigrants and their supporters gathered at the Bull Riders Ballroom, hoping to get the American public to understand the plight of undocumented immigrants.

The rally started shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday with a half-mile march from the ballroom, across Collier County Road 846 from Immokalee Regional Airport, to that road's intersection with State Road 29 and back.

Many of the 45 marchers carried white crosses bearing the names of Mexicans and Central Americans who died trying to get to the United States. In all, 4,026 of these would-be immigrants have perished trying to get to the United States in the past two years, said Gloria Hernandez, general director of Inmigrantes Latinos Unidos de la Florida (United Latin Immigrants of Florida).

Hernandez helped organize last April's protest march, which drew at least 75,000 to Fort Myers, in support of the legalization of immigrants who already are living in this country.

"We are asking the USA to look at the people who are dying," said Ignacio Zapata, 46, an American citizen living in Bonita Springs who is originally from Mexico.

"Everybody knows we're trying to get everyone legalized. I think we're all here trying to make things better for ourselves. What's wrong with that?" asked Zapata, president of Inmigrantes Latinos Unidos de la Florida.

He added that a nationwide effort is under way to encourage legal and illegal immigrants to stay home from work March 1 to 7, unless Congress passes immigration reform legislation before then that would include a guest-worker program or amnesty for many of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

If by the end of that week there has been no progress, Zapata said, the boycott could be extended to 16 days.

"If somebody is doing something wrong, then put them away," he said. "All immigrants, even white Americans, are going to be in our March protest."

But illegal immigrants won't get sympathy from Americans because they're violating U.S. laws, said Tony Maida, co-founder of the Cape Coral-based anti-illegal immigration group Americans Standing Tall.

"No one likes to have people die for any reason whatsoever," he said.

But, he added, "If we violated their country's laws and went there without the proper paperwork, I'm sure they wouldn't like it, and we'd be in jail overnight."

Maida added that illegal immigrants who demand their rights is preposterous.

"They have no rights," he said. "Their rallies demanding rights will turn more of the American people against them."

It is views like this that scare Carlene Thissen, 56, of Naples. She is a white American citizen who sympathizes with the plight of undocumented workers. She performed a song she wrote, "Take These Hands," during the Sunday rally.

"The key thing I notice is that they are really angry," she said of the anti-immigrant side of the debate. "The people who support undocumented immigrants are not angry. There are a lot of us who support them. I don't know why they're not here."

Maida said he is not angry or racist.

"I think the hatred comes from these people to us," he said. "We are not hateful people. We want our laws to be obeyed."

Blanca Gonzalez, 40, of Plant City, was born in Benton Harbor, Mich. Her father was born in Mexico. Gonzalez and 15 members of her group, Immigrants United for Freedom, attended the rally.

"They're not asking for citizenship," she said. "They're asking for a way to work and be able to go back to their countries with a better way of life. Believe it or not, they'd rather be in their own countries."