UFW joins fray on immigration
By MARTIN ESPINOZA
The Press Democrat
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Immigrant rights activists are once again flexing their political muscle. This time, however, the street march and rallies are being replaced with a postcard campaign they hope will influence legislators ready to take up illegal immigration next week. The postcard campaign is part of a national effort to pressure Congress to come up with avenues for millions of undocumented immigrants to legalize their status. The campaign is being spearheaded by the United Farm Workers of America, which hopes to collect tens of thousands of printed postcards and present them to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., by Wednesday. The campaign is the latest political move by immigration advocates who have mobilized millions of people across the country in marches and rallies. Part of their goal is to register an army of new voters and to make U.S. citizens of legal immigrants who are sympathetic to their efforts. "We want reform that is just and fair," said Casimiro Alvarez, the UFW’s North Coast director, speaking at a press conference Wednesday in Santa Rosa. The UFW and other organizations have formed immigrants rights coalitions across the country and together hope to collect 1 million postcards. Those collected by the UFW will be sent to Washington, D.C., and presented by UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta. Titled the "We Are America" campaign, the effort reflects the idea among immigration advocates that today’s immigrant, legal or illegal, will eventually be tomorrow’s citizen. "We’re pushing our motto, ‘Today, we march. Tomorrow, we vote,’ " Alvarez said. "Immigrants carry out the hardest work. We want to be recognized for our work, not criminalized." The postcard urges that "immigration reform" include measures that will lead to citizenship, keep families together, provide a visa program for future immigrants, protects civil rights and does not make criminals of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration has been oe of this year’s most hotly debated issues in Congress, with some legislators calling for a guest-worker program and paths toward legal residency for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. Others seek stricter border enforcement and tougher penalties against illegal immigrants and the people who hire or help them. The inability of Congress to act on the immigration issue has frustrated people on both sides of the debate. "I know the system is broke, and it needs to be fixed," said Ron De Jong, communications director for grassfire.org, a conservative Web site that has begun a billboard campaign targeting illegal immigration. The group is collecting a $25- per-square-foot donation to pay for billboards that read, "Stop the Invasion." One has already been put up in Dallas, and billboards for Georgia, Florida and California are forthcoming. De Jong said the United States must first secure its borders before it can come up with a plan to "increase the influx of workers" through a guest-worker program. The pro-immigrant postcard campaign is being conducted locally by the Coalition for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County, a group that formed earlier this year and that includes the local UFW, the Latino leadership group known as Instituto Sanchez Mendoza, the Graton Day Labor Center and the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County. Alvarez, the local UFW leader, said the immigrant rights coalition would wait to see what comes out of Congress next week before it decides what its next action will be. He said the coalition, however, will immediately begin an aggressive voter registration drive in the months leading up to the midterm elections this year. POSTCARD CAMPAIGN UFW hopes to collect tens of thousands of postcards and present them to GOP leaders. |
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