Latino Activists Renew Immigration Reform Efforts in Nation’s Capital
By Adolfo Flores
Washington, D.C.-- Latino activists are renewing their push to Congress to stop the deportation of undocumented parents of U.S.-born children while urging it to retake a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
The activists, coming from Chicago and Los Angeles, proceeded with their plans to lobby in the nation’s capital despite the fact that one of the leaders of their cause, Elvira Arellano, was deported last month after she addressed a crowd in Los Angeles.
Instead, her eight-year-old son Saúl and about a dozen other children in a similar situation traveled to Washington D.C., Sept. 12 with a message to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) advocating on behalf of some 4 million U.S.-born children most of whose parents are undocumented.
Despite the peaceful intentions of some 300 demonstrators, a moment of tension erupted as they attempted to make their way into Pelosi’s office. Demonstrators panicked as the crowd began to push on her office’s door being held by a police woman.
Two students from the Chicago-based Pueblos Sin Fronteras were detained by Capitol Police. No charges were pressed.
The rally continued by the reflection pool in front of the U.S Capitol, but not before members of Pueblos sin Fronteras taped a bilingual letter on Pelosi’s door and left with a crying group of children, including Saúl.
“In the United States you have families that are united whose parents are being taken away. It’s an injustice,” said Gabriela Lemus, executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. “These children are citizens and they have a right to their parents.”
(As published in Hispanic Link Weekly Report Sept. 17, 2007)