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Immigrant rally planned for Friday; more events this weekend
Advocates calling for changes in the nation's immigration laws holding rallies and events across the country, including in South Florida
By Luis F. Perez | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
6:06 PM EDT, April 30, 2009
MIAMI - South Florida advocates are holding an immigration rally in Miami on Friday, putting on know-your-rights presentations and writing letters calling for change in the nation's immigration laws.

They're coordinating their activities around a national agenda of activities, including at least 40 other rallies and events around the country.

Plans call for marchers to gather around 4 p.m. Friday in Miami's Chopin Plaza where they will hear Haitian hip hop, Mayan music and about a dozen speakers before heading down Brickell Avenue for about a mile, organizers said. Advocates in Palm Beach County are writing to the first lady, asking her to stop immigration raids that separate families. In Homestead, they plan to hold a know-your rights presentation Sunday at a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

"We're trying to demonstrate community support for President Obama's desire to get and win immigration reform," said Katherine Gorell, spokeswoman for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, which is coordinating events around the state. Thousands came out to march in 2006 around South Florida. The following year, hundreds did the same. Gorell said she expects hundreds this time at the Miami rally.



Advocates are trying to bring attention to the issue at a time when leaders in Washington are starting to concentrate on it, they say. The Obama administration has said it plans this year to tackle the immigration issue, including finding a path to legalize an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., led a Senate hearing Thursday titled "Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009, Can We Do It and How?"

When Congress took up immigration in 2006 and 2007, advocates organized marches that brought out millions in cities across the country.

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tighter immigration controls, said he welcomed the rallies then and now.

"My sense is that an illegal alien march is the best recruiting tool against amnesty that there is," he said.

Immigrant advocates, however, say the marches encouraged a record number of immigrants, particularly Hispanics, to apply for citizenship and to vote.

"What people learned is that we needed long-term political participation and empowerment strategies," said Rosalind Gold, senior director of policy research and advocacy at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

Still, some experts say television images of millions of people marching on American streets, some waving foreign flags, doomed President George W. Bush's 2007 effort to change immigration law.

"It was a mistake both tactically and in principal," said David Abraham, a University of Miami Law School professor who studies immigration.

Amalia Pallares, a political scientist in the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, surveyed people who marched in the 2006 and 2007 rallies. Many who participated felt strongly that it was important to take part, she said. But there was a downside.

It was used by "anti-immigrant forces" to oppose any kind of change, Pallares said. Monica Duenas, of West Palm Beach, wants changes to the country's immigration policy, she said. But she is not one for marches. The Peruvian native didn't take part in the previous years and doesn't plan to participate this year, she said. But watching the millions on TV in the past did play a part in her decision to become a naturalized citizen last year.

"I didn't do it only to become a citizen," Duenas said. "I wanted to vote."

She did. In November. For Obama.

Luis F. Perez can be reached at lfperez@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4553.