http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/642 ... Rally.html

About 400 turn out for immigrant rally
4/12/07

SEATTLE -- In an attempt to bring attention to the plight of the children of illegal aliens whose parents are imprisoned or deported under U.S. immigration laws, marchers walked from Westlake Center to the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building.

Wednesday's crowd was estimated as high as 400 people. The marchers carried signs that read "Don't abandon the children" and "Stop deportations; I need to be with my mom." They called for changes in U.S. immigration laws that would prevent family separations.

Mayor Greg Nickels joined the marchers during their walk and offered his support. He said he wants Seattle to be the kind of city where people can feel secure answering a knock at their door late at night.

"We are a country of immigrants," Nickels said. "We are strong because we are diverse."

"Lots of people in our family are very fearful," said Seattle resident Erin Fanning, who is married to a Mexican immigrant. "Even our children who were born here don't feel like full citizens."

Dayzhon Mekonnen, 10, and his brother O'shaay, 11, said their father, an immigrant from Africa, grew up in the United States, but now is in a detention center in Tacoma. Dayzhon said he writes letters to his father and tells him "how much I love him and miss him."

"Our representatives in Washington, D.C., say they believe in family values," 9-year-old Josephina Alanis-Mora said. "To me, there is no more important family value than allowing families to stay together."

Berenice Louis said her husband, Juan Louis, 22, was deported to Mexico two weeks ago after being stopped at the Sea-Tac airport, where he planned to leave for Ohio to look for work. She said she is supporting the couple's two young girls - 3 years and 4 months - by herself.

The couple came illegally to the Seattle area from Mexico four years ago and her husband has been working in construction jobs.

She said she has been selling the family's belongings so she can keep herself and her daughters housed and fed.

"The effect on us has been one of economics," Louis said through a translator. "I can't work because I need to care for the children and can't afford child care."

But Ira Mehlman, a spokesman with the Federation for Immigration Reform, which supports the enforcement of current U.S. immigration laws, did not sound sympathetic.

"When parents break the law, they put their families in jeopardy," he said. "They are responsible. It should be no different from all the other cases where people break the law."