(Illegal) Immigrant groups set to march in Houston on May 1

[peejay 327]

Immigrant groups set to march in Houston on May 1

Joining other demonstrations nationwide, downtown rally will target legislation that would add border agents, require employers to verify workers' status

By SUSAN CARROLL

2008 Houston Chronicle

Immigrant advocates in Houston on Wednesday called for supporters of comprehensive immigration reform to join a May 1 march downtown as part of a larger, nationwide protest.

The Houston march is scheduled to coincide with protests, marches and rallies across the country, said Maria Jimenez, a longtime Houston activist, calling it a "national mobilization." Organizers had no projected turnout for the march, which will start at 2 p.m. in front of the Mickey Leland Federal Building at 1919 Smith St., and end at Antioch Park at 1400 Smith St.

"We're inviting the community to stand up for itself," said Cesar Espinoza, an organizer with the Central American Resource Center in southwest Houston. "We need to fight laws that damage our communities and our families."

Organizers said they were hoping to bring attention to a bill pending in Congress called the SAVE Act, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act, which would add an estimated 8,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents and require employers to use federal databases to verify the status of all workers. The SAVE Act offers no path toward legalization for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Lorenzo Cano, associate director of the University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies, said the act misses the crux of the immigration issue by focusing primarily on enforcement and ignoring the millions of immigrants drawn to the U.S. for work.

"Congress and the president have really dropped the ball on immigration in recent years," Cano said. "Particularly during the presidential campaign, we need to remind our elected officials that we cannot forget the needs and human rights of undocumented immigrants in the United States."

In 2006, hundreds of thousands of immigrants took to the streets in opposition to legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. The legislation would have made living in the U.S. illegally a criminal, instead of civil, infraction, beefed up the Border Patrol and extended the international fence.

The Sensenbrenner legislation was credited as being the catalyst for the largest immigration marches in recent U.S. history. On May 1, 2006, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets in major cities and small town across the country, including a turnout of about 10,000 in Houston. The bill passed the House, but not the Senate.

Anti-illegal immigration activists criticized the massive protests, saying immigrants were flaunting the fact that they broke laws, and then were demanding rights. One conservative blogger called the marches "parades of lawbreakers."

Pro-immigrant organizers declared victory after the Sensenbrenner defeat and massive marches, but said immigration worksite raids during the past two years have caused fear in immigrant communities and tempered turnouts at events and protest. The pro-immigrant movement has suffered a series of setbacks and defeats in the past two years, as attempts to pass legislation with a legalization component have failed and cities and towns across the country passed their own legislation aimed at curtailing illegal immigration.

Small turnout last year

Last year's May 1 demonstration in Houston was significantly smaller, with about 100 protesters, though a protest days earlier brought closer to 1,000, Jimenez said.

Recent steps taken by the Bush administration, including workplace raids and attempts to seize land along the U.S.-Mexico border to extend the fence, may help drive turnout for this year's May 1 march, organizers said. Jimenez said the SAVE Act, which has been dubbed a "baby Sensenbrenner" bill in activist circles, likely will also help bring out supporters of legalization.

"It looks like anti-immigration forces are moving forward (with the SAVE Act)," she said. "So it looks like we are going to move forward, too."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5687918.html

[mawilson 2,133]

The SAVE Act offers no path toward legalization for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Lorenzo Cano, associate director of the University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies, said the act misses the crux of the immigration issue by focusing primarily on enforcement and ignoring the millions of immigrants drawn to the U.S. for work.

Like it or not, that's what the American people seem to want.

[Dan J 277]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

[mawilson 2,133]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

Or you could just ignore their protest.

[GaryC 7]

How dare us wanting to enforce the law. Bad Americans!!!

[Amby 490]

I like illegals they make my life easier and cheaper

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

Or you could just ignore their protest.

or call ice

[GaryC 7]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

Or you could just ignore their protest.

or call ice

I bet if ICE rolled up with a few buses and a hundred officers asking for green cards it would sure put a damper on the protest.

[mawilson 2,133]

I like illegals they make my life easier and cheaper

oops

Edited April 9, 2008 by mawilson

[Dan J 277]

I like illegals they make my life easier and cheaper

Goooo Free Market

I need more cheap workers.

[peejay 327]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

I find it more productive to bombard my elected representatives with my own distain of the situation. The illegal aliens and their cheerleaders can sh!t in their own Cheerios by flaunting their illegality and empty demands in the faces of the American public.

[no name 1]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

Or you could just ignore their protest.

or call ice

I bet if ICE rolled up with a few buses and a hundred officers asking for green cards it would sure put a damper on the protest.

Ask and deport, family urges

and

Should LAPD officers be allowed to ask about citizenship status when stopping people for routine questioning?

78% says yes

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

Or you could just ignore their protest.

or call ice

I bet if ICE rolled up with a few buses and a hundred officers asking for green cards it would sure put a damper on the protest.

maybe peejay and several hundred other citizens can get ice jackets and show up in a few rented buses.

[Dan J 277]

Come on peejay, make use of your constitutional rights, start a counter-protest.

Or you could just ignore their protest.

or call ice

I bet if ICE rolled up with a few buses and a hundred officers asking for green cards it would sure put a damper on the protest.

maybe peejay and several hundred other citizens can get ice jackets and show up in a few rented buses.

I think you would run into issues with impersonating a goverment agent.

[Amby 490]

I like illegals they make my life easier and cheaper

oops

oops what?