March 24, 2010

Coloradans among those calling for immigration reform

By Anna Maria Basquez

Nineteen-year-old Lafayette resident Belen Colin told the story of her academically elite immigrant friend March 18 before a rally of people. 

Her friend, Marta, took college preparatory classes and advanced math and did well, she said. She attended a field trip to the state Capitol to see what the law-making system looked like. During a small meeting with “one of the big guys in there,” Colin said one student asked a question. The student asked the lawmaker if he believed students without Social Security numbers would be able to get in-state tuition, an immigration reform act, or something to make it easier to pursue higher education sometime in the next five years. The answer is something she said her friend Marta would take to heart.

“The man looked at every one of the students … and said in a cold voice, ‘Honestly, I don’t believe that students like you will be able to go to school in five years, not even 10,’” Colin said. “He then looked at his watch, said he had to go and left.”

She watched as her friend’s grades, and ambition dwindled. It would be awhile until her friend snapped out of the discouragement, she said. Now the student, Marta, has regained her desire and has started working to pay for college, she said.
“Today, I am here joining this battle for Marta, and for all the other students who give up high school because they think that there is nothing for them but jobs in fast food restaurants, or in labor related areas,” Colin said. “I don’t want another man in a suit to tell another hopeful student that he or she can’t go to school.”

Colin is a parishioner at Lafayette’s Immaculate Conception Church and was among faith representatives joining a bus ride across the nation culminating in Washington, D.C., to advocate for immigration reform. The bus stopped in seven cities on the way to the nation’s capitol, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, Salt Lake City, Denver, Kansas City and Columbus. The bus included faith leaders from California and Colorado with the PICO National Network. Additionally, another bus was joining the caravan on immigration issues, which was to include more than 50 Coloradans.

The groups went to Washington, D.C., on Sunday where they gathered at the National Mall to call on political leaders to pass just immigration reform this year that keeps families together, creates pathways to citizenship and protects the dignity of all workers.

More than 200 attended the rally at St. Anthony of Padua welcoming the bus in Denver, with signs reading “Reunite Our Families” and “The Need for Reform is Urgent” and listening to testimonies about the immigration reform issue.

“This is something that’s affecting the faith,” said Yessenia Saucedo, 15, a Catholic who is on the same bus from Oakland, Calif. “Most of (the immigrants) are Catholic. They want to go to church and participate. Most are scared that if they go to church or school, or participate, they’re going to get hurt or taken away.”  She said, however, people wanting to be faithful may participate without fear.

“As Catholics, our faith is calling us on this journey,” Saucedo said.

Father Daniel Norick, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua, greeted many of them on their way into the rally. He blessed the group that was leaving on the bus. St. Anthony of Padua has about 1,500 families, he said.

“There are many families being broken up,” Father Norick said. “There’s a lot of sadness and fear. We want to help do something to better the situation. They’ve showed they want to be good citizens. They want to live in peace in this country. This should be a sign of hope.”