The Monterey Herald: MARCH FOR RIGHTS

 

Alejandro Palomares of Greenfield joined immigration rights advocates in… (VERN FISHER/The Herald)

Local participation in the march mirrored nationwide demonstrations, which produced only a fraction of the million-plus protesters who turned out last year, the Associated Press reported.

In Los Angeles, where May 1 protests in 2006 brought out several hundred thousand at various activities, about 25,000 came out for a downtown rally, said police.

José Ibarra, coordinator of the Salinas march, said he was disappointed about the local participation. He said his group had worked hard at promoting the event for the last few weeks.

"Maybe because we changed the original route, people were waiting for us to pass through Williams, and they never realized where we were," Ibarra said.

He also believes many people stayed home because they are afraid to come out given the nationwide immigration raids. And he said he heard of some community groups discouraging people from participating in demonstrations.

"There were groups that were telling people not to come out," Ibarra said. "They were able to influence the movement."

Waving Mexican, American and United Farm Workers flags, the marchers left from St. Mary of the Nativity Church around 3:40 p.m., and took almost two hours to walk a couple of miles in the East Salinas neighborhood.

About 800 people set out from the Catholic church, but by the time they returned, the march had swelled to about 3,000, Police Sgt. Richard Serratos said.

"We were scrambling at the last minute," he said. "We had to pull out resources from other departments in order to keep as many officers on the streets working as possible."

Some said smaller crowds didn’t mean the movement to win a path to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants had lost steam.

"A lot of people just couldn’t come out," said Eleuterio Salvador Vega, a Watsonville strawberry harvester who participated in last year’s march. "Last year, we all got permission from the employers. This year it wasn’t the same."

Chuy V zquez, a well-known Castroville activist, brought a delegation of about 100 marchers from Our Lady of Refuge church. Like Ibarra, he was disappointed to see the wane in attendance, and he blamed the media for not showing enough support.

"Last year, the movement was all over the radio," he said. "I didn’t hear anything this time."

What organizers said was also keeping people at home was fear of immigration raids, which have increased nationwide even if they’ve hardly occurred on the Central Coast.

In fiscal year 2006, federal immigration officials deported 195,024 people, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. Six months into the current fiscal year, 125,405 have already been deported.

Salinas protesters carried signs reading "Stop the Raids", "Fair Immigration Reform", and "No more unjust laws."

About 20 students from Alisal High School left class around noon and slowly made their way to Central Park, where they met with the Castroville delegation. They were waving Mexican flags and chanting "Here we are, and we’re not leaving. And if we’re kicked out, we’ll be returning."

"We want to be equal," said Yesenia Escorcia. "We want work permits for our parents."

And while many school-age children could be seen at the Salinas march, their presence was slim compared to last year’s march, when about half the student population of Alisal High skipped class to be part of the rallies.

Marcos Cruz, a fifth-grader at Sherwood Elementary School, joined the afternoon rally after classes, waving an American flag. He said he was marching because he wants legalization for his mother.

"She’s working a lot," he said.

Also unlike last year’s demonstrations, most of the participants were waving U.S. flags. Many said they want to send a signal that they want to be accepted in this country.

"We want this country to see that we are with them," said Leobardo Acosta, a 36-year-old strawberry harvester. "We want to show that (this country) is important to us."

In the past, sights of brown-skinned marchers waving a foreign flag struck a wrong chord in many sectors of the U.S., and organizers began encouraging demonstrators to carry a U.S. flag, something that many in Tuesday’s march did.

In Northern California, about 12,000 marched in Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Modesto, students, workers and families marching in the streets. There were also rallies in Watsonville, San Jose, Madera, Fresno, Martinez and other towns.

"After working 22 years here, paying taxes and being a good citizen, I think it’s fair they give me residency," said Los Angeles protester Manuel Hernandez, 38-year-old Mexican who along with his wife and two children is undocumented. "It’s not fair we don’t have documents."

Organizers at the Salinas march held a rally at St. Mary of the Nativity at the end of the walk, where they thanked participants for demonstrating the courage to take action.

"I’m proud to have walked today," said the Rev. Enrique Herrera in Spanish. "Thousands of people like us walked today, and we showed that we’re united and that we want fair immigration reform."

Pastor Frank Gomez of the United Methodist Church urged other religious leaders to become involved in efforts to reform the country’s immigration laws.

"Some of us may be here without permission, but we have permission from the creator of this country, and we have a right to be here," he said. "If we are going to talk about compassion … we need to start living it."

      
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or cmelendez@montereyherald.com.