Immigrant Alliance Preparing Response
President's Address Set For 8 P.M. Today
http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld ... ationworld

May 15, 2006
Washington Post WASHINGTON -- As President Bush prepares to address the nation at 8 tonight about immigration, a newly formed network of groups that organized demonstrations for illegal immigrants is preparing to respond to the government with a unified voice.

The "We Are America Alliance" - 41 immigrant resource groups, unions, churches, day laborers and Spanish-language disc jockeys - opposes House legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants, but is willing to lobby Congress for compromise to reach its goal of obtaining legal residency for many of the 11 million people who live in the shadows.

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But like the president, whose proposal for a guest worker program is opposed by many in his own party, the alliance does not speak for all. It is being criticized by a small but influential faction of Latino activists in Los Angeles who believe the alliance's compromise strategy could slow the momentum created by the protests.

Bush's speech and the immigrant community's planned response on Spanish-language radio will kick off a week of debate and activity over immigration. The Senate is scheduled to vote by the middle of the week on proposed legislation that would allow some illegal immigrants to become legal residents. Senators would then begin negotiations with the House, where proposals that would grant citizenship to anyone who entered the country without proper documentation are deeply opposed by Republicans and some Democrats.

President Bush's plan to dispatch National Guard troops to the Mexican border was not greeted well by the immigrant coalition, which plans a day of civil action Wednesday, with demonstrations at the White House and on Capitol Hill, and the launch of a nationwide voter registration campaign at churches and nonprofit organizations, hoping to create a million new voters among legal residents.

"We expect a large turnout of people from all over the country," Juan Carlos Ruiz, general coordinator for the National Capital Immigration Coalition, said over the weekend. He presaged the message of the Spanish radio address, saying: "Militarizing the border is not a solution to the problem. We believe that militarizing the border is a propaganda tool. We need comprehensive immigration reform."

Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, which helps to fund and organize activities for illegal immigrants, said the president has to make hard choices. "It's not going to be possible for Bush to thread the needle and create something that makes the right happy" while also pleasing moderates, he said. "We are absolutely prepared to try to bring this thing down if it heads in the wrong direction."

Bhargava's talk is not tough enough for some Latino activists, particularly in Southern California.

Other activists say the immigrant rights movement spans a multitude of languages and defies leadership in a single voice.