Posted on 09/25/2003 1:45:50 PM PDT by sarcasm
UCSON, Sept. 24 — Ninety immigrants and supporters left their buses and marched outside the Roman Catholic cathedral here today, carrying foot-high crosses to commemorate people from south of the border who died in the desert as they sought a better life in the United States.
At St. Augustine Cathedral, the immigrants were greeted by more than 400 parishioners, students and others who marched alongside them and joined in singing, "We Shall Overcome."
Outside the cathedral a woman carried a large sign that said "How Many Must Die: Arizona Deaths This Year 146. Change Our Border Policy."
The ceremony was part of an elaborate spectacle, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, in which 18 buses carrying hundreds of immigrants are stopping in more than 100 cities to promote immigrants' rights. Inspired by the 1961 freedom rides that sought to integrate buses in the South, the new ride aims to turn immigrants' rights into a new civil rights movement.
"Then, as now, let the freedom buses roll," the Rev. John M. Fife, pastor of the Southside Presbyterian Church, said in the eucharistic celebration at the cathedral. "Then, as now, vigilantes terrorized and discriminated with guns. Then, as now, there is a moral and ethical issue that must unite church and synagogue and mosque and labor and civil rights and mainstream America in a movement to change the course of history."
As they visit Tucson, Las Vegas, Dallas, Detroit and other cities, the riders are saying the United States needs a more humane immigration policy, one that makes it easier to reunite families, that stops immigrants from dying in the desert, that prevents employers from preying on long-time workers who do not have legal documents.
The riders hope for nothing less than to move immigrant rights, especially gaining legal status for more than eight million illegal immigrants, to the forefront of legislative and political debates. Leaving from 10 cities, the riders are scheduled to converge on Oct. 1 in Washington to lobby Congress and proceed to Flushing Meadows, Queens, for a giant demonstration on Oct. 4.
"The idea of legalization is very important," said Angélica Soto, a farm worker from Mexico on a bus from Los Angeles. "Legalization is important to stop employers from exploiting workers. It's important to help reunite families. I have a friend who couldn't go to his mother's funeral back in Mexico, because he was worried he'd never be allowed back into the United States."
The two buses that arrived here today left Los Angeles on Tuesday morning after a huge good-bye party. They stopped in Palm Springs, Calif., for a rally and proceeded to Phoenix for a demonstration at the State Capitol where priests, politicians, African-American leaders and union presidents spoke. The buses carry immigrants, some legal and some illegal, from China, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Mexico, the Philippines and other countries.
In the rally in Palm Springs, more than 300 immigrants, parishioners and union members joined the bus riders at Our Lady of Solitude Church. The signs said "Immigrants are today's slaves" and "I cut your grass, I make your bed, I wash your dishes, I pick your fruit. I refuse to be invisible."
The Rev. Miguel Ceja, a graduate of Stanford University who entered the United States illegally from Mexico at 14 to work on farms, presided over the ceremony as he strummed a guitar.
In a skit that students from Coachella Valley High School performed, Steve Aquino, a senior, said: "I work for minimum wage to put food on your table. But you don't know if I have food on mine."
Mr. Aquino, whose father is a landscaper, said he wished the ride had occurred years ago.
"I'm so glad they're here," he said after the skit. "Immigrants work so hard. Too many immigrants don't get paid right for what they do."
The organizers said they hoped the effort focused President Bush and Congress on expanding immigrants' rights because the issue dropped off the public radar after the Sept. 11 attacks. Before then, the push to reform immigration laws was receiving a serious hearing from Mr. Bush and Congress as President Vicente Fox of Mexico and many immigrant groups pushed the issue.
"Our message of changing immigration laws is a message to Democrats and Republicans as they try to attract Latino voters," the chairwoman of the ride, Maria Elena Durazo, said. "There is hardly a Latino family who doesn't currently or didn't very recently have a family member who was undocumented."
The Congressional Black Caucus, the N.A.A.C.P., the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and other African-American groups back the ride. Not only do those groups see it as a valuable tribute to the 1960's freedom rides and civil rights movement, but they also recognize that the push for immigrants' rights will help immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean.
The main sponsors are immigrant advocacy groups and unions. In urging union leaders and members to rally around the riders, labor is seeking to increase its visibility among the fast growing immigrant population and to convince immigrants that unions can improve their economic lot.
The groups have asked powerful and visible friends, including clergy members of Congress and state senators, to appear with them.
"The vast majority of these people are working, and many of them face unscrupulous employers who take advantage of them," said Antonio Villaraigosa, a Los Angeles City Council member and former mayoral candidate. "We need a humane, sensible immigration policy that takes into account that these people have worked here for years, they pay taxes, their children are living here."
Anti-immigrant groups have denounced the ride, heckled the rallies and sent threatening e-mail messages.
"There's something almost Orwellian for people violating the laws of the country to go en masse to Congress to demand their rights under the law," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington.
The riders want Congress to approve an amnesty for illegal immigrants like the one enacted in 1986. The demonstrators also want stronger protections for immigrant workers, additional visas to reunite families and fewer violations of immigrants' civil liberties.
"I think the people in the United States are fair minded," said Dolores Huerta, a rider who founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez. "When you have people who are being oppressed, who are not being paid fairly, whose children suffer, this is not fair, and we have to change that."
How about the right to become POTUS?
When will Bush declare the war on illegal immigration? I would like to see this Bus surrounded and all parties arrested. The USA is Plain CRAZY!!
People care more about football that the settlement of 3rd world garbage in our backyard.
I thought this was MY country. Not some lawbreakers.
Most, but not all. For example, only U.S. citizens are supposed to be allowed to vote in our elections. Immigrants, legal or illegal do not have that right.
We all know it doesn't really work that way, though.
I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you!I can't believe only 146 invaders are taking a dirt nap. Someone isn't doing their job.
BARF!
I do not want you to be invisible. To the contrary, I want you to be MORE visible: step up to the plate and pay for the use of the roads, as well as your children's education and medical care. Swear allegiance to my country, so that I know you are loyal not just today, while you make my bed, but will be in the future as well.
I agree. The United States should invade and annex Mexico, install a non-corrupt occupation government, and make sure the people down there get all their rights so they don't have to leave their homes and come up here illegally just to earn a living.
Unions should be against illegal aliens. Job loss thing. Why are they in favor of this?
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