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Yahoo!Chants of “Yes we can / End the raids” and “Obama escucha / Estamos en la lucha” rang out along Anapamu Street in front of the Courthouse on Monday at noon as activists gathered in support of immigration reform. Following the 20-minute rally, community leaders held a press conference to announce the launch of the Santa Barbara component of the National Campaign to Reform Immigration for America.
“We want to build a base and get as many people as possible to support immigration reform,” said Belen Seara, executive director of PUEBLO, a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit economic and environmental justice organization which has been involved in immigrant rights since 2006. PUEBLO is one of the 198 national, regional and local organizations that are part of the national coalition supporting the campaign.
The Campaign to Reform Immigration for America is a national effort to change what activists term a “broken” immigration system through comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Advocates of the reform seek legislation that will bring undocumented workers into the system and create a more accessible pathway to citizenship. They say this will improve the economy, keep families together and increase national security.
According to Seara, undocumented workers have no legal right to organize and demand higher wages, which leads to lower wages for all American workers. She said that targeting illegal immigrants and smugglers at the border diverts resources from genuine national threats.
Instead of insisting on specific legislation, the supporters of the campaign have written a set of principles they would like to be included in the any legislation. “We are open to dialogue,” said Seara. “We understand that immigration reform is not an easy issue and we are willing to make compromises.”
Speaking before a backdrop of the American Flag, representatives of several local organizations, including CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice Santa Barbara Chapter), American Indian Movement and UC Santa Barbara’s IDEAS as well as local elected officials City Council members Grant House and Das Williams, and 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal voiced their support for comprehensive, national immigration reform legislation.
The campaign was launched in more than 35 cities across the country June 1, 2009. It is sponsoring a national three-day summit on immigration reform in Washington D.C. scheduled for June 3-5.
Allison M. Jones is an Independent intern.
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Please continue protests like these. Chanting in Spanish and waving Mexican flags will only strengthen the message of immigration restrictionists. Allies like Grant House and Salud Carbajal will cause you to lose much more support overall than you will gain politically. And Salud -- calling opponents of amnesty "xenophobes" is not intimidating those of us who favor realistic levels of immigration with assimilation.
Here's my message -- Estoy un Gringo y Yo No Voy.
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revisionist (anonymous profile)
June 2, 2009 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry, I always mix up estar and ser.
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revisionist (anonymous profile)
June 2, 2009 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
For years "immigration reform" was the phrase used by those wishing to see immigration REDUCED, LEGAL and CONTROLLED, e.g. Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform, FAIR.
Now the Open Borders trespassers after stealing into our country have stolen our language!
"Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." - Adam Smith, economist and ethicist
Everything you need to know about immigration and what to do about it humorously told.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBw1nUlf3...
(Roy Beck and NumbersUSA are the "gumball" heroes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WJeqxuO...
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wandagb (anonymous profile)
June 2, 2009 at 9:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was present about 5 years ago when a parade of people marched for free driver's licenses. They called for all Mexican's to stop work for a day to support the movement. I was in a store off Haley when they marched by. The store clerk, who was Hispanic,was standing outside his store. He was taunted by the passing crowd, apparently for not joining La Huelga. They called him "Huero-culero, huero-culero" in a nanner-nanner tone. If that's not racist, then nothing is. They ended their march at La Casa de La Raza.
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azuresees (anonymous profile)
June 3, 2009 at 6:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I would really like to know why my husband, who's a British citizen, and I should have to spend the tens of thousands of dollars for his US residencey while all of the illegals and their children feel it's their right to be given citizenship free and clear? My husband speaks english, works in a specialized field of heavy transport, paid his taxes and is married to an American but was still excluded from re-entering the USA because his employer lied about his work visa. I even got him a greencard and he still wasn't allowed back in; now, if we want to live in the USA, we have to reapply for another greencard and pay the fees all over again.
I'm so sick of hearing people badmouth the United States and it's citizens for finally getting fed up of supporting non-citizens who are breaking the law. And if you don't believe that your tax dollars are supporting a vast majority of them, walk into any welfare office anywhere in the country and see how many people in the waiting room speak english.
The same rules need to apply to people south of the border as they do for the rest of the world.
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faerydragon (anonymous profile)
June 3, 2009 at 2:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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