Immigrants End 'Ride' With Pleas on Hill, Washington Post
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Freedom Riders rally in D.C. park for immigration reforms, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Immigrants End 'Ride' With Pleas on Hill
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post
Like many illegal immigrants, the 23-year-old Mexican lives in the shadows, cleaning Chicago office buildings at night and avoiding authorities. Yesterday, she emerged -- to tell her story in Congress.
In Mexico, "many of us didn't have enough to eat," said Janneth, one of scores of immigrants who traveled to the capital on a "freedom ride" from across the country. Her eyes welling with tears, the young woman told a legislative assistant to Rep. William O. Lipinski (D-Ill.) that she and her siblings sometimes were so hungry as children that they would ask neighbors for a tortilla.
"I'm looking for opportunity," Janneth explained to the aide as a group of fellow immigrants from Chicago nodded. "I don't want to hurt this country."
Janneth, who gave only her first name, was one of numerous immigrants who fanned out through House and Senate office buildings yesterday to lobby for greater rights. Some, though not all, were in the country illegally. That did not stop them from pressing legislators or their aides for amnesty for undocumented immigrants, increased worker protection and measures to allow speedier family reunification.
The day of lobbying was a highlight of the "freedom ride," during which nearly 900 immigrants, union activists and civil rights supporters traveled on buses to reinvigorate a campaign for immigrants' rights. Momentum in the U.S. government to expand immigration stalled with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which were carried out by hijackers from the Middle East.
The lobbying day began with a rally of a few hundred immigrants and their supporters on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Several Democratic legislators, as well as John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, pledged support and invoked the spirit of the original Freedom Ride by civil rights activists in 1961.
"Today we are witness to the fact that the movement for civil rights in this country has not come to an end," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.).
The crowd, waving Mexican and U.S. flags, chanted "Si se puede!" -- Spanish for "Yes, we can!"
However, it was not clear that the march would yield political results. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors reducing immigration, noted that any reforms would need the support of Republicans, who have a majority in Congress.
If the goal is convincing Republicans, he said, "the last thing I'd do is have the AFL-CIO organize a convoy of illegal immigrants appropriating the terminology of the civil rights movement."
Organizers of the rally said Republican legislators had been invited to speak but did not attend.
Such political considerations seemed to matter little to the immigrants wandering awestruck through the congressional office buildings.
"In most countries in Latin America, if you talk, the government doesn't listen . . . but here, your voice can be heard," said Lucrecia, 40, another unauthorized immigrant from the Chicago area who gave only her first name.
Janneth, Lucrecia and about a dozen others had hoped to make their case yesterday morning to Lipinski, but the congressman was in a meeting.
So, sitting in white plastic chairs in a lunch area in the Rayburn House Office Building, they poured out their stories to Emily Chibnall, 24, his legislative assistant.
Lucrecia said her 19-year-old daughter, whom Lucrecia brought to this country a decade ago, had worked hard in high school but could not afford college because she was ineligible for in-state tuition rates. She pleaded for better opportunities for children who are in the country illegally.
"It's a very sad situation," said the Mexican native. "Our children, like slaves from Africa, didn't come by their own decision. They were brought here."
Another member of the delegation, Elvira Arellano, 28, said that she had been fired from her job cleaning airplanes in Chicago after authorities did sweeps at the city's airports following the terrorist attacks to detect those working illegally. She has been ordered deported to Mexico but is hoping the order will be reversed.
"I came in the caravan because we want to be free, free to work, without fear," she said.
Chibnall thanked the group for coming. "I think you guys were very clear," she said, adding that Lipinski is in favor of immigration reform.
Janneth, who works seven days a week at two cleaning jobs, said she was disappointed not to meet with the congressman.
"I hope she can convince him," she said. "We came all the way from Chicago."
Freedom Riders rally in D.C. park for immigration reforms
Kristin Tillotson
Star Tribune
Published 10/03/2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Trinidad Moreno said that she and other immigrants who work as maids at a Minneapolis hotel are reluctant to speak out about mistreatment on the job. Some fear being fired, others deportation.
"It feels like we have tape across our mouths," she said.
In Sen. Mark Dayton's office Thursday, the tape came off. Moreno, a native of Mexico, is one of 80 immigrants who traveled on two buses from Minnesota to Washington this week as part of the 900-strong Immigration Workers Freedom Ride, a national effort aimed at changing legal roadblocks faced by documented and undocumented workers in the United States. The ride continues today with a stop at the Statue of Liberty, and a rally Saturday in New York City.
Moreno and her fellow riders, most of whom originally came from Mexico, Central America or Africa, left the Twin Cities on Sunday on two Jefferson Lines buses, building a groundswell of support from unions, churches and others as they made stops along the way.
On Wednesday afternoon, the 18 busloads of "freedom riders" from several cities across the country converged for the first time in a park across from the Capitol Skyline hotel in Southeast Washington, and emotions ran high. Chants of "si se puedo" (Spanish for "yes we can") alternated with choruses from "We Shall Overcome."
The ride represents a new wave of grass-roots activism, with working immigrants taking on new leadership roles. Wednesday night, an event for the whole crowd held at Bible Way Temple Church featured immigrant speakers telling their stories. The four-hour pep rally culminated in a motivational speech by Congressman John D. Lewis, D-Ga., one of the original freedom riders of the 1960s who recalled being left beaten and bloody on more than one occasion.
Most of the buses encountered few protests along the road to Washington, although riders were detained by the border patrol in El Paso, Texas, for four hours Friday. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has been the organization most critical of the ride. Associate Director David Ray said that illegal immigrants are not entitled to a "free ride" if it means breaking laws.
The ride, organized in part by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), is endorsed by other unions as well, including the AFL-CIO, which hosted a dinner for the riders Thursday night.
Dayton, who met for nearly an hour with a group of 20 immigrants from the Minnesota delegation, got an enthusiastic reaction when he mentioned his support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would allow students who have lived in the United States for at least five years to become permanent residents. He hedged on the issue of amnesty for illegal workers, saying that "employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers are breaking the law, which leads to exploitation, which leads to the deterioration of labor in this country."
Wang Ping, a published author and writing professor at Macalester College who has lived in the United States for 18 years, told Dayton that she has been trying to get citizenship for the past six years.
"We didn't come here to ask for charity," said Ping, who moved from China in 1985. "We came with our knowledge and our talents and our dreams. We came with respect and love for this country, and we'd like it to be mutual."
Groups of riders also met with other Minnesota legislators, including aides for Republicans Rep. Mark Kennedy and Sen. Norm Coleman. Coleman issued a statement in which he lauded bipartisan efforts on behalf of immigrants' rights: "These folks have come to the U.S. to pitch in, work hard and to share the American dream."
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Immigrants End ‘Ride’ With Pleas on Hill, Washington Post
online pharmacy buy cenforce no prescription
Freedom Riders rally in D.C. park for immigration reforms, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Immigrants End ‘Ride’ With Pleas on Hill
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post
Like many illegal immigrants, the 23-year-old Mexican lives in the shadows, cleaning Chicago office buildings at night and avoiding authorities. Yesterday, she emerged — to tell her story in Congress.
In Mexico, “many of us didn’t have enough to eat,” said Janneth, one of scores of immigrants who traveled to the capital on a “freedom ride” from across the country. Her eyes welling with tears, the young woman told a legislative assistant to Rep. William O. Lipinski (D-Ill.) that she and her siblings sometimes were so hungry as children that they would ask neighbors for a tortilla.
“I’m looking for opportunity,” Janneth explained to the aide as a group of fellow immigrants from Chicago nodded. “I don’t want to hurt this country.”
Janneth, who gave only her first name, was one of numerous immigrants who fanned out through House and Senate office buildings yesterday to lobby for greater rights. Some, though not all, were in the country illegally. That did not stop them from pressing legislators or their aides for amnesty for undocumented immigrants, increased worker protection and measures to allow speedier family reunification.
The day of lobbying was a highlight of the “freedom ride,” during which nearly 900 immigrants, union activists and civil rights supporters traveled on buses to reinvigorate a campaign for immigrants’ rights. Momentum in the U.S. government to expand immigration stalled with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which were carried out by hijackers from the Middle East.
The lobbying day began with a rally of a few hundred immigrants and their supporters on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Several Democratic legislators, as well as John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, pledged support and invoked the spirit of the original Freedom Ride by civil rights activists in 1961.
“Today we are witness to the fact that the movement for civil rights in this country has not come to an end,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.).
The crowd, waving Mexican and U.S. flags, chanted “Si se puede!” — Spanish for “Yes, we can!”
However, it was not clear that the march would yield political results. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors reducing immigration, noted that any reforms would need the support of Republicans, who have a majority in Congress.
If the goal is convincing Republicans, he said, “the last thing I’d do is have the AFL-CIO organize a convoy of illegal immigrants appropriating the terminology of the civil rights movement.”
Organizers of the rally said Republican legislators had been invited to speak but did not attend.
Such political considerations seemed to matter little to the immigrants wandering awestruck through the congressional office buildings.
“In most countries in Latin America, if you talk, the government doesn’t listen . . . but here, your voice can be heard,” said Lucrecia, 40, another unauthorized immigrant from the Chicago area who gave only her first name.
Janneth, Lucrecia and about a dozen others had hoped to make their case yesterday morning to Lipinski, but the congressman was in a meeting.
So, sitting in white plastic chairs in a lunch area in the Rayburn House Office Building, they poured out their stories to Emily Chibnall, 24, his legislative assistant.
Lucrecia said her 19-year-old daughter, whom Lucrecia brought to this country a decade ago, had worked hard in high school but could not afford college because she was ineligible for in-state tuition rates. She pleaded for better opportunities for children who are in the country illegally.
“It’s a very sad situation,” said the Mexican native. “Our children, like slaves from Africa, didn’t come by their own decision. They were brought here.”
Another member of the delegation, Elvira Arellano, 28, said that she had been fired from her job cleaning airplanes in Chicago after authorities did sweeps at the city’s airports following the terrorist attacks to detect those working illegally. She has been ordered deported to Mexico but is hoping the order will be reversed.
“I came in the caravan because we want to be free, free to work, without fear,” she said.
Chibnall thanked the group for coming. “I think you guys were very clear,” she said, adding that Lipinski is in favor of immigration reform.
Janneth, who works seven days a week at two cleaning jobs, said she was disappointed not to meet with the congressman.
“I hope she can convince him,” she said. “We came all the way from Chicago.”
Freedom Riders rally in D.C. park for immigration reforms
Kristin Tillotson
Star Tribune
Published 10/03/2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Trinidad Moreno said that she and other immigrants who work as maids at a Minneapolis hotel are reluctant to speak out about mistreatment on the job. Some fear being fired, others deportation.
“It feels like we have tape across our mouths,” she said.
In Sen. Mark Dayton’s office Thursday, the tape came off. Moreno, a native of Mexico, is one of 80 immigrants who traveled on two buses from Minnesota to Washington this week as part of the 900-strong Immigration Workers Freedom Ride, a national effort aimed at changing legal roadblocks faced by documented and undocumented workers in the United States. The ride continues today with a stop at the Statue of Liberty, and a rally Saturday in New York City.
Moreno and her fellow riders, most of whom originally came from Mexico, Central America or Africa, left the Twin Cities on Sunday on two Jefferson Lines buses, building a groundswell of support from unions, churches and others as they made stops along the way.
On Wednesday afternoon, the 18 busloads of “freedom riders” from several cities across the country converged for the first time in a park across from the Capitol Skyline hotel in Southeast Washington, and emotions ran high. Chants of “si se puedo” (Spanish for “yes we can”) alternated with choruses from “We Shall Overcome.”
The ride represents a new wave of grass-roots activism, with working immigrants taking on new leadership roles. Wednesday night, an event for the whole crowd held at Bible Way Temple Church featured immigrant speakers telling their stories. The four-hour pep rally culminated in a motivational speech by Congressman John D. Lewis, D-Ga., one of the original freedom riders of the 1960s who recalled being left beaten and bloody on more than one occasion.
Most of the buses encountered few protests along the road to Washington, although riders were detained by the border patrol in El Paso, Texas, for four hours Friday. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has been the organization most critical of the ride. Associate Director David Ray said that illegal immigrants are not entitled to a “free ride” if it means breaking laws.
The ride, organized in part by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), is endorsed by other unions as well, including the AFL-CIO, which hosted a dinner for the riders Thursday night.
Dayton, who met for nearly an hour with a group of 20 immigrants from the Minnesota delegation, got an enthusiastic reaction when he mentioned his support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would allow students who have lived in the United States for at least five years to become permanent residents. He hedged on the issue of amnesty for illegal workers, saying that “employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers are breaking the law, which leads to exploitation, which leads to the deterioration of labor in this country.”
Wang Ping, a published author and writing professor at Macalester College who has lived in the United States for 18 years, told Dayton that she has been trying to get citizenship for the past six years.
“We didn’t come here to ask for charity,” said Ping, who moved from China in 1985. “We came with our knowledge and our talents and our dreams. We came with respect and love for this country, and we’d like it to be mutual.”
Groups of riders also met with other Minnesota legislators, including aides for Republicans Rep. Mark Kennedy and Sen. Norm Coleman. Coleman issued a statement in which he lauded bipartisan efforts on behalf of immigrants’ rights: “These folks have come to the U.S. to pitch in, work hard and to share the American dream.”