Commemorating the 1st Anniversary of San Jose's April 10th Immigrant Rights March

By: Elizabeth González

About 20 people from the San José Coalition for Immigrant Rights gathered this morning in front of the Federal Building in downtown San José to commemorate the one year anniversary of the National Day of Action for Immigrant Rights, where thousands took to the streets last April 10th. In San José it was the first march were large organizations had caught up to the people who had taken to the streets in March of last year to protest the proposed law that would have criminalized immigrants. This comes just after President Bush has announced his immigration proposal that would create a new guest worker program.

“We couldn't ignore this date,” said Victor Cristobal of the group Liberty and Justice for Immigrants (Libertad y Justicia Para los Inmigratnes) “last year we encouraged the people to vote and our victory came when the Democrats gained control of Congress, “ he adds.

Secundindo Cristobal of Comite Cesar Chavez was also part of the conference and says “We are sending a message to Congress that we want true immigration reform, not the proposals that Bush or even what Congressman Luis Gutierrez has presented. The problem with these bills is that they propose people leave the country and pay fines, but people who are working here should be able to stay, and we want to see family reunification with the ability for people to travel and be able to return to their country.”

Cristobal said that today a phone in campaign to Congress begins. Nationwide, people will be calling their representatives to demonstrate that they want a just immigration reform law to pass.

Community activist Teresa Castellanos, affirmed that “1 year ago the immigrant community decided to participate democratically and they want to continue in the debate because they will be directly affected.”

She says that the current immigration proposals have too many punishments and a lot of people would not qualify. “It's not a law yet, it's a debate so we are discussing it and talking about what we would like to see.” She adds,   “What Bush is proposing would make everyone into Braceros. This is a program that doesn't allow people to become residents or vote and it denies people their rights.”

 

The Coalition announced that there will be a forum on April 20 th to educate the immigrant community about their rights and inform them about how they can participate in the debate. The location and time is to be announced.