Thread: Crowd marches in solidarity for migrant rights

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 00316/1006

Crowd marches in solidarity for migrant rights

Nicole C. Brambila
The Desert Sun
September 10, 2006

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More than 150 protesters took to the streets in Coachella on Saturday for immigration reform.
"A lot of people have the notion that immigration reform has died," said Lucia Juan, a member of Comité Latino, which organized the event.

"It's not true."

Many efforts, Juan said, are taking place behind the scenes.

Organizers said Saturday's march was a show of solidarity for Elvira Arrellano, an immigrants' rights activist who is attempting to dodge deportation after a 2002 arrest for working under a false Social Security number.

The 31-year-old Mexican native was supposed to report to immigration officials in mid-August, but instead she sought sanctuary in a Chicago church.

Her story, Comité organizer Mario Lazcano said, is familiar to a number of Coachella Valley families who also risk deportation and separation from family members born in the United States.

There was a similar rally in Los Angeles on Saturday, where about 200 people showed.

"We will continue to fight for justice and a good, sane (immigration) policy," Lazcano said in Spanish.


The local group has collected about 2,000 signatures for a petition that Arrellano's organization - La Familia Latina Unida - is expected to file in federal court on behalf of her 7-year-old son, who was born in the United States. Two members plan to travel to Chicago next week with the local signatures.
Comité Latino has been at the forefront organizing local protests and members have traveled to Washington, D.C., to support lobbying efforts. Saturday's protest marked the group's fifth march since organizing around the immigration-enforcement bill Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, co-sponsored late last year.

Although most who marched Saturday are U.S. citizens, many are recent immigrants or have friends and family who are undocumented.

Carrying signs that read, "Elvira Arrellano: Tu lucha es nuestra lucha (Your fight is our fight)," protesters stretched for more than three city blocks.

"We came to work hard in the fields, construction and in the kitchen," said Omar Diaz, of Indio. "We just get pennies.

"We want the dream."

I will be SO glad when they deport this leech.....I am sick of hearing about her and the abuse of her son for political purposes.

We need a fence for the entire stretch of the Southern border.

The illegal rights marches is the perfect opportunity to have buses waiting at the end of the march with officers asking for ID and loading them on the bus and escorting them back to their homeland. Without the fence, its a waste of taxpayers money to deport them because as evidenced by Arellano's presence they are able to return with no problem.

I would go as far as to say sieze all their assets and use the money to jail them when necessary,pay attorney's fee when necessary, deportation costs, fine them and send them home with what is left!

"We came to work hard in the fields, construction and in the kitchen," said Omar Diaz, of Indio. "We just get pennies.

We're seeing more and more of this lately.

Let me clue you in, Omar. The only reason anybody hires you is because you work cheap. That's the ONLY REASON.

You want to get paid well? Good luck.

You'll see your job being given to new invaders who will work even more cheaply than you.