Thread: "March for Migrants" reaches Washington

http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=10444

February, 16 - 11:22 AM


"March for Migrants" reaches Washington



Washington.– The "March for Migrants" arrived here Wednesday to press for defeat of pending legislation that envisions a high double fence along the border with Mexico and would make coming to the country without a visa a crime.

The measure's sponsor, Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner, also wants to criminalize the activity of U.S. groups and individuals who assist illegal immigrants, including those who offer them food, water or first aid.

To stress their opposition to more barriers, the rights campaigners chose to begin the procession just yards away from the border fence in San Diego.

Members of the Gente Unida (People United) coalition also adorned the barrier with wooden crosses bearing the names of migrants who died while trying to slip across the border into the United States.

Morones, a veteran Mexican-American activist from San Diego, said that the point of the march is "to tell people that more than 4,000 deaths on the border - people who came to look for work - is not an insignificant number, it's not a fact that is forgotten, buried with a new immigration initiative." He said he wants senators in Washington to know and understand the realities of the border before they vote on Sensenbrenner's bill.

Having made stops in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina en route to the capital, the marchers plan to return to the West Coast via Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and New Mexico, where they are to meet with Gov.

Bill Richardson - son of an American father and Mexican mother - at his request.

Representatives of the group talked with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington, where Gente Unida plans a demonstration Saturday in front of the Capitol. Last year, a total of 465 migrants perished while trying to cross the border, more than half of them succumbing to dehydration or the elements in the deserts of Arizona.

But according to one participant in the March for Migrants, the impetus for the caravan was the fatal New Year's weekend shooting of a Mexican citizen by a U.S. Border Patrol agent, an incident that remains under investigation.

"The death of Guillermo Martinez at the hands of a Border Patrol agent at the beginning of this year in the border at San Diego was the straw that broke the camel's back. That was when we got together and decided we had to do something," said Gente Unida's Vicente Rodriguez.

Clergy, human rights organizations and friends of the activists have provided lodging to members of the caravan, who have taken part in meetings and public events on the way to Washington.

Organizers began the march on Feb. 2 because that date is the anniversary of the signing of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, under which Mexico ceded more than half of its then-territory to the United States after nearly two years of war.

Organizers began the march on Feb. 2 because that date is the anniversary of the signing of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, under which Mexico ceded more than half of its then-territory to the United States after nearly two years of war.

Well now, isn't that an interesting statement?

Well, I guaran[damn]tee ya John Cornyn will or did listen to 'em, unless he happened to be in Bangalore, India taking care of his constituents! Right, Senator?

Damn, you're mean spirited to our elected officials, how can you post such as that?

Well, excuse me! We're paying their salaries.

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http://www.alipac.us/article1052.html

Well, at least this march had a lot less people and support than the "Immigrant Freedom Ride" did two years ago did. That means we are making progress. It seems the only business group actively supporting amnesty anymore is the US Chamber of Commerce. If we can put the hurt on them amnesty will be dead.