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CAMPAIGN 2006
Immigrant group taking a long walk
4-day march to end at Hastert's office

By Sara Olkon, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Oscar Avila and Darnell Little and freelance reporter Rhianna Wisniewski contributed to this report
Published August 31, 2006

In a show of how far immigrants have moved to fulfill the American dream, scores of immigrant advocates will skip their barbecues and lakefront picnics this weekend to join in a 44.9-mile walk from Chinatown to the home office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert in Batavia.

The four-day journey ends with Hastert because of his leadership on the issue of beefing up border security. March organizers hope to show the Republican congressman that he should be more mindful of immigrants' interests.

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Batavia "is the target because Speaker Hastert presided over passage of one of the most odious pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress," said James Thindwa, director of Chicago Jobs for Justice, in reference to a U.S. House bill that would make illegal immigration a felony.

Organizers also are holding a town hall meeting Tuesday morning at a Batavia church.

Gauging how the march will play as protesters move from Hispanic strongholds such as Cicero to Hastert's significantly less-diverse district remains to be seen. Historically a Republican stronghold, the 14th Congressional District begins in the western-most part of DuPage County and encompasses long stretches of farmland extending toward the Iowa border.

But like much of the state, the area is changing. In 1990, Hispanics made up about 9 percent of the district, according to U.S. census figures. By 2005, that number had jumped to 22 percent.

The shift will transform the political landscape, immigration advocates predict.

On Wednesday, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights released a report that showed a 38 percent jump over the last five years in the number of naturalized citizens--eligible voters--who have moved to Chicago's suburbs. DuPage County had the most dramatic surge, with an increase close to 50 percent.

"Both Republicans and Democrats [who are immigrants] favor a path to citizenship," said Rob Paral, a research fellow at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

The march, which begins Friday, will be peppered with rallies in Chicago's Chinatown and Little Villageneighborhoods as well as Cicero, Melrose Park, Villa Park, West Chicago and Batavia. Supporters can join marchers along the route or go the entire distance.

St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church in Cicero, the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park and St. Mary Catholic Church in West Chicago are providing overnight accommodations and meals. Local businesses have donated food.

The event has spawned feeder marches from cities and towns not covered by the route. So far, walks have sprung up from Joliet to Aurora, Aurora to Batavia and Elgin to Batavia, said Kristin Kumpf, a suburban organizer for the coalition.

"I really do expect this to be a turning point for people in the suburbs," she said. "It gives people an opportunity to see that the issue isn't going away--families are being separated every day. We need immigration reform passed now."

Turnout is anybody's guess. In March, 100,000 people converged in the Loop to protest the House bill. A second pro-immigration rally downtown in May attracted nearly 500,000, but a July demonstration produced as few as 10,000 participants.

Nilda Flores-Gonzalez, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studied the May rally, said the suburban route would attract people who could not take work off or who didn't have a way to reach the other events.

"We are not expecting people to march for four days," Flores-Gonzalez said. "People will join in segments."

Jesus Sanchez, for one, is planning on walking the Joliet feeder march all the way to Batavia. A co-owner of the La Quinta de los Reyes restaurant in Aurora, Sanchez said he knows of at least 50 other business owners and their families who plan to do the same. His employees are welcome to participate, he said, even if it means closing his restaurant.

"Our business is supported by illegal immigrants, so we have to support them," Sanchez said.

Kevin Mathews, a technology consultant from Aurora and a member of Fellowship of the Patriots, a veterans rights group, couldn't disagree more.

"Anyone who supports illegal aliens is in full violation of federal law," said Mathews, who plans to travel to Batavia to act as a counter-protester. "Anyone who is supporting them should be fined and jailed



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