Thread: Immigration activists to go back on march

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Immigration activists to go back on march

By Oscar Avila
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 14, 2006

Grass-roots organizers are planning another major immigration march in Chicago next week, hoping a third massive showing in the streets of the Loop will bring new momentum to stalled efforts to liberalize immigration laws.

Advocates said a march will kick off at noonWednesday at Union Park on the West Side, culminating in a rally at Federal Plaza, 230 S. Dearborn St.


Four months ago, tens of thousands of marchers followed that same path, a dramatic mobilization that brought demands for legalization of illegal immigrants to the forefront nationwide. Another rally on May 1 brought 400,000 people to the streets, police estimated, while other marches around the nation brought out hundreds of thousands more.

Since then, the Senate passed a bill that included legalization for most of the nation's illegal immigrants. But House leaders, many of whom oppose legalization of illegal immigrants, have delayed negotiations to craft a final compromise until they finish holding more hearings this summer.

At a news conference Thursday in downtown Chicago, Illinois immigrant advocates said they want to increase the pressure on Congress. The march's organizers include many of the same churches, labor unions and immigrant clubs that helped plan the previous marches.

In recent weeks, some of the organizers' rhetoric and positions have become more forceful. After expressing general support for immigrants in the first two marches, many organizers now say they want a plan that legalizes all immigrants, They say they will not accept a compromise.

Claudio Gaete, an organizer with the Coalition of African, Asian, Arab, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois--a participant in Wednesday's march--compared recent raids on workplaces that employ illegal immigrants to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. In both cases, he said, the government targeted a specific ethnic group.

"We will show them that we are not afraid and that we will stand up," he said.

Even with the support of influential radio personalities such as "El Pistolero," who helped galvanize support for Chicago's first march, organizers refused to speculate whether next week's rally could match the turnout of the first two.

"We don't want to play the numbers game," said Emma Lozano, executive director of Centro Sin Fronteras.

Organizers also announced plans for an Aug. 5 march. It, too, will start at Union Park, but will continue for three days with a final destination about 40 miles away at the Batavia office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

Jorge Mujica, a key organizer, said the August march will focus more on symbolism and less on numbers. He said the three-day trek is the typical time a Mexican immigrant spends crossing the desert into the U.S.

The Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center released a survey Thursday showing that the marches have mobilized many Hispanics. The survey found that 63 percent of respondents believe that the marches represent "the beginning of a new Hispanic/Latino social movement."

But center director Roberto Suro said it remains unclear whether the marches will influence the "broad middle ground" of U.S. citizens with mixed feelings about illegal immigration.

While march organizers were mobilizing their base, the Bush administration's top pitchman on immigration tried to rally the business establishment in Chicago on Thursday.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told a board meeting of the National Roofing Contractors Association that they should support President Bush's plan to bring in temporary workers from other countries to fill shortages in key labor sectors. Speaking at the Four Seasons Hotel, Gutierrez also called for legalizing some illegal immigrants while also ensuring that employers don't hire undocumented workers.

Gutierrez told the Tribune in an interview that immigration is the key social issue facing the U.S.

"Comprehensive immigration reform ensures that the free market will work," he said. But he conceded in his speech that "the voices that are against immigration reform are a lot louder than those that are in favor."

Indeed, some critics say the Bush administration's recipe for immigration reform will displace U.S.-born workers. Rev. Anthony Williams, an Englewood minister and Libertarian candidate for Congress, said many Americans would take the jobs Gutierrez said no one wants if wages were higher.

"Who wants to work for $4 an hour?" he said.

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oavila@tribune.com



Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

Shouldn't we, the citizens of the United States organize our own
protests or marches or whatever you want to call it?

Not neccisarily an event to meet their march and yell at each other, but an independent show of solidarity in a major U.S. city or 3

And, has anyone thought yet about what in the world are we going to do if they pull a fast one on us while we aren't looking.
Our govt. is getting good at pushing through un-popular legisaltion in the middle of the night in special session.
With the majority in every branch, or one party rule, they could feasibly
push through their 'give America away' legislation by vast majority and there isn't anything we could do about it.

Id like some discussion on what to do if that nightmare became reality.

AXMAN
here's the PPP or Poison Pence Plan:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=34687

Best that we all read the 280 page monstosity so that they won't be able to sneak this piece of shit through in the dead of night!

This is where the battle is and we need to be well armed with the facts.

I hope ICE is present for this March and any future march that the illegals plan in the future.Just do random checking for green cards....Oh, excuse me... that would be racist....
I wish the people in Chicago would rally against this BS....
dot