immigration rally

Thousands Rally at U.S. Capitol for Immigration Reform

Click Here to See Additional Photos from the Immigration Rally

By Alfonso Aguilar
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 6/7/07)

Thousands of people, most of them Hispanics from the Washington metropolitan area, gathered outside the U.S. Capitol to press for comprehensive immigration reform on behalf of the millions of immigrants residing and working in this country without legal status.
The rally, organized by the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, drew between 20,000 and 25,000 people to the five-hour event last Saturday, according to organizers.
"We rally once again to send a message to the U.S. Congress, President George W. Bush and the American people that we all have a moral responsibility to fulfill. Migrant workers are the strangers in our midst who need a path to legalization instead of raids and abuse," said Pedro Avilés, executive director of the coalition.
“We are here to demand a prompt and comprehensive reform, and we want the reform now,” said Jessica Alvarado, co-founder of the coalition.
In addition to community leaders, many pastors and priests from different churches addressed the crowd in both English and Spanish and offered interfaith prayers.
“We are a community of religious people,” said Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland.
Many participants, especially children, wore T-shirts bearing messages like “Don’t divide our families,” “Keep the family immigration system,” and “We are all children of God.”
“We are here to help our brothers and sisters that really need our presence at the crucial moment,” said Israel Hernadez, parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish in Baltimore. Hernadez said that as many as 80 parishioners from the parish attended the rally.
“Fortunately, we were lucky to have one of the free rally buses near our parish,” said Mauricio Díaz, a member of this parish.
The organizers placed 13 buses in places like Baltimore, Manassas, Herndon, Woodbridge and Silver Spring to encourage participation and facilitate travel to the nation’s capital.
Although the event aimed to attract Hispanics, members, speakers and musicians from groups like the Korean Association of Maryland, the Vietnamese-American Voters Association, the African Resource Center and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Virginia also participated.
This week the Senate continued deliberations in an effort to reach an accord on immigration.
“Our nation’s immigration system is broken and needs to be repaired,” said Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, in a statement delivered to Virginia’s two senators. “On a daily basis, our parishes and other diocesan institutions see the products of the current broken system —families are separated, workers are exploited, and immigrants are abused by smugglers and sometimes even die in the desert.
“The Senate has a significant opportunity to fashion reforms that are humane, while at the same time serving our nation’s economic and national-security needs,” said Caruso. “I urge you to support amendments that would strengthen family unity.”