May 1 rally: Pinoys, Fil-Ams in US call for immigration reforms

CHICAGO, Illinois – Some took a day off from work. Others took a long break. While some worked undertime. These were some of the means for several dozens of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans that enable them to join thousands of people in Thursday's May Day Immigration Rally in Chicago, Illinois. Suburban Skokie, Illinois Commissioner Jerry B. Clarito, ad hoc executive director of Alliance of Filipinos for Immigration Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE), said he had to take a day off from work just to make it to the event. A veteran of past immigration marches, Clarito, who joined the march aboard a bus rented by the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center (KRCC), said he was happy to see more and newer faces. The AFIRE and KRCCA are members of the Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants (CAAAELII) headed by Hatem Abudayyeh, whose members joined the march that started at 10 a.m. at Union Park at the corner of Ashland Ave. and Lake St. in the west side of Chicago. The marchers then moved slowly along Washington St. and snaked to Chicago’s Loop converging at the Federal Plaza at the corner of W. Jackson and Dearborn, where it ended at 3:30 p.m. Anna Guevarra, PhD, a Fil-Am assistant professor of sociology and gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said, “I hope this march and rally will bring about the desired immigration reforms." Guevarra, who was among those carrying the oversized and quilted flags from 21 countries, including that of the Philippines during the march, admitted she has been involved in the past rallies and she hopes to get more involved in the civil rights activities sponsored by AFIRE. A rally participant, Diego Lozano, said he is supporting the immigration rally to protest the restrictive immigration laws that divide rather than unite families. Lily Kim, president of the Asian American Media Coalition, said this immigration rally needs the support of everybody as she encouraged her members to join. Miss Kim is one of the drummers assembled by the KRCC. This is the second time that a massive rally was held in Chicago, calling for immigration reforms. A nationwide rally last year nearly prompted the U.S. Senate to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would have legalized millions of illegal immigrants but it stalled on a procedural vote of 45 to 50. At least 60 votes were needed to pass the S. 1348. Both the Senate (S. 1639) and the House (H.R. 750, H.R. 1645 and H.R. 1930) versions on comprehensive immigration reforms are still pending. Filipino American speaker, Arnold C. De Villa, officer of AFIRE, who spoke in Spanish on behalf of the CAAAELII, told the crowd that he is speaking on behalf of the “unheard voice of Asian American immigrants, inspiring the immigrants to do what is right and proper as workers and not failing into entrapments of political entitlements." Among those groups advocating for immigration rights is the Illinois Green Party, which claims to be the only political party fully supporting the rights of immigrant workers. According to its manifesto, the Illinois Green Party supports legalizing all immigrants presently in this country; the right to obtain driver’s licenses; the right to equal treatment in tuition charges for higher education. It opposes any “guest worker" program, which does not give full and equal rights to immigrants, including he right to stay as long as the person desires, and the right to become a U.S. citizen. In brief remarks, Chicago City Mayor Richard M. Daley told the crowd, “The City of Chicago was founded by immigrants, in the past, in the present, in the future." He added, “Look at all the high-rises, see the people up there … They are immigrants, they are no different from you." Daley said, “You are part of America’s landscape, you are part of our culture, our history, our great tradition. And in Chicago, we say immigrants are invited here." Among those who greeted the rallyists is Saul Arellano, a nine-year-old born in the U.S., whose mother, Elvira Arellano, was deported to Mexico last year. Speaking in Mexican Latino language, Saul blamed President Bush for deporting his mother. His 32-year-old single mother had spent a year living in a Chicago church in defiance of a deportation order. She became a spokesperson of the New Sanctuary Movement, which focuses on how immigration law and immigration authorities have separated families, and a symbol of resistance for the broader immigrant rights movement. - Joseph Lariosa, GMANews.TV