Demand: Family unity, immigration reform

By Cristina FrésquezEl SemanarioOctober 15, 2009The chorus from Grand Junction to Pueblo, Durango to Greeley rang out clearly - “Family Unity Cannot Wait”. Earlier this week thousands of Coloradans voiced and showed their support for the need for family unity and comprehensive immigration reform – now. Several local organizations, including Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition (CIRC), Padres y Jovenes Unidos, Metropolitan Organization of People (MOP) and reform Immigration for América organized and supported numerous local events calling for reform.
Students from across Denver held silent actions simultaneously, where students from schools such as Escuela Tlatelolco, North High School and Lincoln High School, taped their mouths shut to symbolize that undocumented people in our communities are silenced by a broken immigration system. There are currently over 12 million families who are living in fear of being separated from their families. In 2010, 2.8 million students across the country will graduate from high school and a large portion of those students will not be allowed to pursue higher education simply because they are undocumented.
“Here at the University of Denver, we're betting that we can make our voices heard not just across campus but throughout the state and the nation," said Dulce Saenz, co-founder of DU Students for Comprehensive Immigration reform. "We know our allies in Washington our listening today." Saenz' group helped to organize a press conference at the University of Denver, where students traveled to the conference from all across Denver and Aurora with their mouths taped shut.
In Greeley, where the immigrant community has been continuously attacked since the 2006 raid of the Swift meat-packing plant, students held a funeral for the death of unjust immigration policies.
“This funeral is for the death of policies that don't work and aren't fair to families or kids,” said organizer Andrea Renteria, a member of MEChA andpresident of the sorority Sigma Lambda Gamma at UNC. “We're here saying that we're still fighting, still want immigration reform and will not be silenced.”
From Pueblo to Boulder, actions from across the state, including contacting legislators, rallies, marches and press conferences, coincided with hundreds of national actions – all to voice support for comprehensive immigration reform.Meanwhile, thousands from as far away as Texas, Florida, and Michigan, gathered in Washington DC on Tuesday, to visit Congressional offices and hear Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) and allies outline legislation to be introduced this fall.
“We need a bill that says if you come here to hurt our communities, we will not support you; but if you are here to work hard and to make a better life for your family, you will have the opportunity to earn your citizenship. We need a law that says it is un-American for a mother to be torn from her child, and it is unacceptable to undermine our workforce by driving the most vulnerable among us further into the shadows,” stated Rep. Gutiérrez, Chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“Immigrant and sister communities, including our Latino community, continue to demonstrate their engagement in seeking reform. And that participation continues to grow and evolve,” explained Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza. “What this means for Latinos is that in 2006, with many others, we marched. In 2007, hundreds of thousands of eligible people became citizens.
And in 2008, we voted in record numbers. Now, in 2009 and beyond, we are turning our attention more intently to Congress and the President to remind them that it’s time to follow through with the promise of comprehensive immigration reform—for our communities and for the country.”
Specifically, the forthcoming immigration reform legislation will: include a rational and humane approach to the undocumented population; protect U.S. and immigrant workers; allocate sufficient visas to close unlawful migration channels; enhance our nation's security and safety; establish a strategic border enforcement policy that reflects American values; keep American families together; promote immigrant integration; include the DREAM Act and AgJOBS; and protect fundamental rights for all.
“The ACLU is encouraged by the willingness of congressional leaders to lay out details of immigration reform, but we strongly oppose any reforms that would unnecessarily violate the privacy of Americans,” said Michael Macleod-Ball, Acting Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “We urge lawmakers to reject any proposed immigration reform measures that include a biometric national worker ID system or a universal compulsory electronic employment verification system. These systems come at enormous cost to the American public and do little to prevent the hiring of undocumented workers. It is unacceptable to force Americans to be fingerprinted and photographed in order to work.”
The lawmakers - including Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chairman Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Congressional Black Caucus Member Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and other House Democrats - called for comprehensive immigration reform as a way of keeping families together; protecting the rights of workers; and strengthening the U.S. economy.
President Obama has expressed his support for comprehensive immigration reform and reports indicate bills are in some stage of development in the House and Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Immigration. However, while a number of hearings have been held, no comprehensive immigration reform bill has yet received formal consideration in a committee.
“The message from immigrants today is profoundly simple: Don't break up my family. Let our parents raise their own children with families intact. Keep parents and grandparents who are our family's immigrant pioneers, out of jail. Allow our children, our parents, and our families to come to this country legally with a visa and rights and dignity,” proclaimed Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, while speaking to the masses in D.C.
“If we had a functioning legal immigration system, people would use it. But we don't, so they can't. That keeps family members apart, makes people wait decades for legal permission to work here, and keeps countless families living in fear of separation through deportation.”
To receive immigration reform updates on your cell phone, text “Justice” or “Justicia” to 69866. For more information on how to get involved to support comprehensive immigration reform, visit www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org or www.reformamigratoriaproamerica.org.