Thread: Pro-Immigrant March to Take Place in Pacoima

Pro-Immigrant March to Take Place in Pacoima
Written by Alex Garcia, Sun Contributing Writer
Thursday, 13 January 2011 04:56





Gloria Saucedo, head of Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional in Panorama City, said people need to go back to the streets to ask for immigration reform for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the country.


Maria Lopez is an undocumented farm worker who has lived in the country for the past 12 years. She says going back to her native Mexico is no longer an option for her. "It would be going back to the unknown," she said.




Under the slogans "San Fernando Valley Rises Up" and the "Dreams Are Not Dead,"
pro-immigrant activists are organizing a march in Pacoima to be held at the end of this month to demonstrate, yet again, the need for immigration reform for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the country.

"The biggest strength the people have is to come out and demonstrate. The freedom of the original 13 colonies was won through demonstrations.

The women's vote was obtained the same way, with marches," said Gloria Saucedo of the Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional in Panorama City, one of the groups behind the event.

"We have the moral responsibility to go out into the streets and claim our rights. We don't have a lot of money for big movements, but we have the marches to put pressure."

The march is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 29 starting at 9 a.m. at the corner of Glenoaks and Van Nuys boulevards, and ending a few miles down at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church.

Father Guillermo Anton, head of that parish, said the United States is a "country of immigrants" and added the deportations and separations of families "does not represent the soul of this country." "This is a country that welcomes foreigners," he said.

Foreigners like Maria Lopez, a 26-year-old undocumented farm worker from Oxnard who will participate in the San Fernando Valley March. "We want to come out of the shadows," Lopez said. "We work and we drive without documents out of necessity. We don't hurt anybody."

Lopez' brothers brought her into the United States 12 years ago and she has been working ever since, first at a hotel at the age of 14 and for the past eight years picking strawberries and other crops.

She has two daughters, ages 8 and 4, and has no intention of going back to her native country, Mexico.

"Going back would be like going into the unknown," she said. "Going back is no longer an option for me. I adopted this country as my own."

Former San Fernando High School teacher Alex Reza said "those without papers are a positive force", especially undocumented students who pose a "vital resource this country needs."

"The community has to stand up and send a strong message that this (immigration reform) is just," Reza said.

However, many in the proimmigrant community acknowledge that immigration reform is an uphill battle this year given the new makeup in Congress, where Republicans now are a majority in the House of Representatives and gained ground in the Senate.

Congressman Luis Gutierrez (DIllinois), a supporter of the Dream Act, said recently immigration likely won't be part of the congressional agenda for 2011 and next year is nearly impossible to have this issue gain traction in the same year with a presidential election.

Despite this, Alicia Flores, another organizer of the Pacoima march, remains focused. "We are hopeful we will get immigration reform this year," she said, vowing they will put thousands of people on the streets for the demonstration.

That's also debatable. Pro-immigrant marches have dwindled to a few thousand, and in some cases a few hundred, compared to the more than one million strong who marched in 2006 in repudiation of the Sensenbrenner bill H.R. 4437, which sought to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

While those demonstrations brought the issue to the forefront and forced Congress to take action, the immigration reform bill died in the Senate a year later. And just a few weeks ago the Dream Act, which many considered a "mini immigration reform" also had the same fate.

Fights over strategy, what immigration reform should include and the limelight have also splintered the pro-immigrant groups and hacked into the faith of the immigrant community and their organizers.

The group organizing the march in Pacoima are no longer the leading forces in the movement, having been relegated to a second tier that lately has not garnered widespread support for their demonstrations.

Still, as Saucedo pointed out, after the recent Dream Act defeat and a general sense that immigration reform is not without reach, "we have to light the fire of the struggle because if we don't do it, who is?"

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Write a letter to the editor. Send your thoughts to the San Fernando Valley Sun: 601 S. Brand Blvd. #202, San Fernando, CA 91340; email: editor@sanfernandosun.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


http://www.sanfernandosun.com/sanfernsu ... in-pacoima

You'll get immigration reform thes year alright. Hopefully it's not the reform you want.

Maria Lopez is an undocumented farm worker who has lived in the country for the past 12 years. She says going back to her native Mexico is no longer an option for her. "It would be going back to the unknown," she said

Oh my Lord Maria Lopez you and many many like you are the reason I don't go HOME to California! You are the reason I left and I so understand how its Unknown cause when I go HOME to visit it is foreign to me.
I would love to go back I miss it and my family and friends and who knows Washington may become the next Ca (it's getting close) And because of you I will have to find another place to flee to..I WANT MY HOME BACK!

Originally Posted by OneNationUnderGod

Pro-Immigrant March to Take Place in Pacoima
Written by Alex Garcia, Sun Contributing Writer
Thursday, 13 January 2011 04:56





Gloria Saucedo, head of Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional in Panorama City, said people need to go back to the streets to ask for immigration reform for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the country.


Maria Lopez is an undocumented farm worker who has lived in the country for the past 12 years. She says going back to her native Mexico is no longer an option for her. "It would be going back to the unknown," she said.




Under the slogans "San Fernando Valley Rises Up" and the "Dreams Are Not Dead,"
pro-immigrant activists are organizing a march in Pacoima to be held at the end of this month to demonstrate, yet again, the need for immigration reform for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the country.

"The biggest strength the people have is to come out and demonstrate. The freedom of the original 13 colonies was won through demonstrations.

The women's vote was obtained the same way, with marches," said Gloria Saucedo of the Hermandad Mexicana Transnacional in Panorama City, one of the groups behind the event.

"We have the moral responsibility to go out into the streets and claim our rights. We don't have a lot of money for big movements, but we have the marches to put pressure."

The march is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 29 starting at 9 a.m. at the corner of Glenoaks and Van Nuys boulevards, and ending a few miles down at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church.

Father Guillermo Anton, head of that parish, said the United States is a "country of immigrants" and added the deportations and separations of families "does not represent the soul of this country." "This is a country that welcomes foreigners," he said.

Foreigners like Maria Lopez, a 26-year-old undocumented farm worker from Oxnard who will participate in the San Fernando Valley March. "We want to come out of the shadows," Lopez said. "We work and we drive without documents out of necessity. We don't hurt anybody."

Lopez' brothers brought her into the United States 12 years ago and she has been working ever since, first at a hotel at the age of 14 and for the past eight years picking strawberries and other crops.

She has two daughters, ages 8 and 4, and has no intention of going back to her native country, Mexico.

"Going back would be like going into the unknown," she said. "Going back is no longer an option for me. I adopted this country as my own."

Former San Fernando High School teacher Alex Reza said "those without papers are a positive force", especially undocumented students who pose a "vital resource this country needs."

"The community has to stand up and send a strong message that this (immigration reform) is just," Reza said.

However, many in the proimmigrant community acknowledge that immigration reform is an uphill battle this year given the new makeup in Congress, where Republicans now are a majority in the House of Representatives and gained ground in the Senate.

Congressman Luis Gutierrez (DIllinois), a supporter of the Dream Act, said recently immigration likely won't be part of the congressional agenda for 2011 and next year is nearly impossible to have this issue gain traction in the same year with a presidential election.

Despite this, Alicia Flores, another organizer of the Pacoima march, remains focused. "We are hopeful we will get immigration reform this year," she said, vowing they will put thousands of people on the streets for the demonstration.

That's also debatable. Pro-immigrant marches have dwindled to a few thousand, and in some cases a few hundred, compared to the more than one million strong who marched in 2006 in repudiation of the Sensenbrenner bill H.R. 4437, which sought to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

While those demonstrations brought the issue to the forefront and forced Congress to take action, the immigration reform bill died in the Senate a year later. And just a few weeks ago the Dream Act, which many considered a "mini immigration reform" also had the same fate.

Fights over strategy, what immigration reform should include and the limelight have also splintered the pro-immigrant groups and hacked into the faith of the immigrant community and their organizers.

The group organizing the march in Pacoima are no longer the leading forces in the movement, having been relegated to a second tier that lately has not garnered widespread support for their demonstrations.

Still, as Saucedo pointed out, after the recent Dream Act defeat and a general sense that immigration reform is not without reach, "we have to light the fire of the struggle because if we don't do it, who is?"

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Write a letter to the editor. Send your thoughts to the San Fernando Valley Sun: 601 S. Brand Blvd. #202, San Fernando, CA 91340; email: editor@sanfernandosun.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


http://www.sanfernandosun.com/sanfernsu ... in-pacoima

that funny what I think they should marches right Back home to mexico they have our country to hell of a mess .no one told them to
come over . they have our job . & don't hand me . that the American don't want that not rigth . we want the right . pay they work cheap .. & the other party get half . & they work under the table
you are not American citizen we don't go over to Mexico & tell your Gov what we want . no way in hell . you have no right In hell

Maria Lopez said, "....we drive without documents out of necessity. We don't hurt anybody."

Hey Maria, TELL THAT TO THE ADENHART FAMILY AND THE THOUSANDS OF OTHER AMERICAN FAMILY WHO WERE RUN OVER AND KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DRIVING DRUNK AND OUT OF NECESSITY!!!!!!

Maria Lopez is an undocumented farm worker who has lived in the country for the past 12 years. She says going back to her native Mexico is no longer an option for her. "It would be going back to the unknown," she said.

Really Maria? Since you've "adopted" the US, and mexico is the "unknown", please explain why the signs you're holding are in spanish?

Go ahead and march, spreading fear and hate through American communities is what illegal aliens do best. Show us how much respect you all have for your "adopted" country by continuing to violate our laws and demanding handouts.

Maria Lopez is an undocumented farm worker who has lived in the country for the past 12 years. She says going back to her native Mexico is no longer an option for her. "It would be going back to the unknown," she said.

Really? You apparently came here 12 years ago to an unknown country in which you probably do not speak a word of English! I wonder how many anchor babies this invader has. What she means by unknown is that mexico does not have a generous welfare system like we do. What's unknown is how she would feed her litter.

Get the hell out illegal invader. Your beloved mexico is calling!

Maria Lopez should be deported.

"We work and we drive without documents out of necessity. We don't hurt anybody."

When you come illegally you hurt every American, you just don't know it. Tax payers have to pay for you and your possible anchor babies. I'm just guessing that if they do get immigration reform , most employers won't want them. Most don't speak English and have hardly no skills, and of course they will be demanding higher pay. The only thing immigration reform(amnesty) will cause is more Americans going back to work to pay for the newly reformed freeloaders who will soak up as many freebies as they can.

Go ahead and march in Pacoima. That cesspool is Mexico.

I gather that Pacoima is in Cali, but does anyone know what area? Is it the LA area?