Illinois Immigrants March on DC
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March 19, 2010
CHICAGO - Hundreds of busloads of Illinois immigrants and supporters are heading to Washington, D.C. for a Sunday march on the National Mall. They say they want President Obama to keep his campaign promise for action on immigration reform. Among those marching are undocumented young people from Illinois, who are risking arrest because they feel that comprehensive immigration reform is so important.
One of those young people is 22-year-old Ireri, who uses only her first name to protect her parents from deportation. She was brought to Chicago from Mexico when she was six years old. She says she no longer wants to live in fear of being separated from her family, or fired from her job, because of what she calls "unjust" immigration laws.
"The more people that get deported, the more people that die in detention centers, it just keeps going and going and going, and we see these in our families and our communities. And, we're just done."
Ireri says her parents came here for work. She finished college and has a job and points out all her working family members pay taxes, which they say should give them an opportunity to contribute fully and a pathway to citizenship.
Irere says most undocumented workers contribute to the Illinois economy.
"Pretty much everybody that I know who is undocumented pays taxes, including my parents, including myself. I actually ended up owing the government some money last time and I already paid them."
Ireri says that comprehensive immigration reform would go a long way to ending the stereotyping of immigrants.
"I think it would give us a chance to prove ourselves in this country. I think we already have proven ourselves in this country, but I think some people don't necessarily understand that."
Sr. Christina Fuller, an immigration activist from Evanston, walked the 75-mile path from Mexico through the desert that many immigrants take to get to America. It was an experience that made her realize most people leave Mexico only out of a desperate need for work.
"I just believe Americans can solve this if we would put our minds to it, that we don't have to build walls, that we can come up with a system that would allow a just and safe migration between the north and the south."
Counter-protesters are expected in D.C., including those who are demanding more deportations.