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 News from Around the Americas | March 2006 
Immigrant Bill Sends Chill Through Rally
 Paul Schwartzman - Washington Post
| | Thousands of people gathered outside the U.S. Capitol yesterday to protest proposed federal legislation that they contend would allow law enforcement authorities to prosecute social service workers, doctors and other professionals who help illegal immigrants. |
Thousands of people massed outside the U.S. Capitol yesterday to protest proposed federal legislation that they contend would allow law enforcement authorities to prosecute social service workers, doctors and other professionals who help illegal immigrants.
Chanting " Si se puede !" ("Yes you can!") and holding signs that proclaimed "We are not Criminals," the crowd roared as speakers derided the legislation and proclaimed immigrants the long-standing backbone of the nation's workforce.
Region a Rising Draw for Immigrants
The Washington region, long established as a magnet for Hispanics and Asians, is drawing those groups faster this decade than in the past and in larger numbers than many large metropolitan areas, according to a report released yesterday.
"You do not become American because you're lucky enough to be born of wealthy parents," Rep. James P. Moran (D-Va.) told the crowd, which stretched from the steps leading to the entrance on the Capitol's west side to its reflecting pool below. "You become an American by working hard and providing for your family. By that definition, you are true Americans."
Standing among the throng, Jose Padeaidad, 26, a Rehoboth Beach, Del., chef who emigrated from Guatemala, nodded and said the proposed legislation would make it difficult to help cousins who are not citizens look for jobs and housing. "It would be a risk for us," he said. "I could go to jail."
The rally occurred as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers a compromise bill proposed by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), which would focus on border security while creating a "visa program enabling employers to hire foreign workers when no willing U.S. workers are available."
Specter's bill also contains a provision that opponents say would criminalize social service workers who feed and house illegal immigrants by classifying them as human traffickers. "We are a nation of immigrants, but we are a nation of laws," Specter, the committee's chairman, wrote in a Feb. 24 letter to his colleagues.
In December, the House passed legislation that would impose sanctions on those who assist illegal immigrants. The bill, known as H.R. 4437 and sponsored by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), also calls for the construction of 700 miles of fencing along the Mexican border.
Proponents have praised the legislation for seeking to protect the United States from terrorists and strengthen the country's borders, over which an estimated 1 million illegal immigrants pass yearly. But the bill's opponents, which have included labor unions and prominent clergy such as Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, have dismissed it as draconian.
The demonstration, organized by the National Capital Immigration Coalition, drew people from across the region, many of them carrying small U.S. flags as they assembled in the late afternoon and listened to a roster of speakers that included politicians such as Kweise Mfume (D), the former head of the NAACP who is running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. Organizers of the protest had predicted a turnout of 20,000, but a spokeswoman for the coalition said last night that the crowd far exceeded that. Police do not release crowd estimates so the turnout could not be confirmed.
"We want a voice," said Felix Mcacos, 32, a Guatemalan maintenance worker who drove from Georgetown, Del., with his 8-year-old son, who sat atop his shoulders, his head warmed by a Spiderman ski cap.
A few feet away, a man who identified himself only as Jose, a 31-year-old Mexican construction worker who lives in Alexandria, said the House bill would hurt people who "are coming only for work, to feed our children. We are not terrorists."
Marisol Albornoz, 55, a Chilean immigrant who lives in Bethesda, took the afternoon off from her job as a manager of a medical office.
Instead of seeking to impose controls on immigrants, she said, the federal government should recognize their contributions. "This country has always been a melting pot," she said. "Why should it be any different now?" |
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