Immigration Reform Rally at Nueva Luz Church calls
for social justice for undocumented workers
by Joe Narkin
(Plain Press, February 2010) A federal policy affording a legal path to citizenship for undocumented workers in the United States is necessary to the achievement of social justice in the United States, according to speakers at an immigration reform prayer vigil and rally on January 14, 2010 at the Nueva Luz Church of the Nazarene, 2226 West 89th Street.
The Northeast Ohio Faith and Civil Rights Rally for Immigration drew a crowd of over 100 students, labor representatives, ministers, civil rights leaders, and Latino organizations as part of a nationwide effort under the auspices of the Reform Immigration for America movement.
Veronica Isabel Dahlberg, an activist in the local Mexican-American community, introduced 21 immigrant students from Harvey High School in Painesville and Lakeside High School in Ashtabula who travelled to the rally at Nueva Luz.
“This is the future of Northeastern Ohio; let’s see what is happening with the future of Northeast Ohio,” said Dahlberg, calling the students to the stage.
Juana, a junior at Lakeside High School, is from a family of six brothers and two sisters who came to northeast Ohio to work in agriculture when Juana was 5-years-old. Despite a 3.6 grade point average and a strong interest in pursuing a career in forensic psychology, Juana believes that, lacking a “social security number, that green card that they ask us for,” she will not be able to apply for college and realize her dreams for the future under current immigration law. Nor will she or her family be able to live in peace and tranquility.
“I have so much potential in me, and see so much potential for other (undocumented) students, but we are unable to advance (that potential),” said Juana in a tremulous voice. Lawmakers “need to take a look at all immigrants, not just Latinos, for the potential that we have for America,” she said.
Over the past several years, agents from the Detroit Field Office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other law enforcement officials have subjected undocumented workers in Lake County and other Ohio communities, including Cleveland, to an increasing number of raids and other enforcement actions, including identification checks that are conducted solely on the basis of ethnic profiling, according to Dahlberg.
The population of Hispanic individuals in Ohio has grown nearly 25% since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the year 2000, Hispanics comprised 7.3% of the population of Cleveland, the majority residing on the west side of the city. Since undocumented citizens are reluctant to be counted despite legal assurances that doing so would not subject them to enforcement action, the above population numbers are likely to be grossly underreported.
Lake County has been a particularly attractive destination for Mexican agricultural workers seeking employment in the nursery industry. While many in the county support these new residents, a significant anti-immigrant sentiment has arisen under the claim that migrant workers create a severe drain upon community resources and Lake County schools have come under criticism for educating the children of undocumented workers.
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District operates seven elementary and two high schools that offer bi-lingual education on the west side of Cleveland.
“All our dreams can be shattered because we don’t have a piece of paper and we can’t do anything,” said Juana. “We live with the fear at night that everything we have worked for is not going to be there in the morning,” she said.
“We saw why we are here today,” said Stanley Miller, President of the Cleveland chapter of the NAACP and a strong advocate of comprehensive immigration reform, referring to Juana and the onstage students. The current actions of immigration agents and other law enforcement officials are “reminiscent of the slave catchers of the 1860’s,” said Miller.
Under the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act, bounty hunters could capture escaped slaves, even those who had reached freedom in the North, and return them to their owners.
Miller cited an example in which a Latino male was taken off his bicycle by police acting without probable cause and taken home, where his entire family was arrested. In another example, Miller told of a case where a woman from Puerto Rico had her citizenship questioned by police during a routine traffic stop because “she did not speak good English.”
“These are things that we should not have to live with in 2010 and this must stop now, stop right now,” said Miller. “We are looking for a roadmap, a safe roadmap, to citizenship” for undocumented workers, he said.
“No human being is illegal and, when you define a human being as illegal, you end the debate,” said David Wolfe Leopold, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It is not a matter of breaking the law; it is a matter of changing the law,” said Leopold.
“A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” said Rev. C.J. Mathews of United Pastors in Mission. “Every nation must face its Goliath and, for us, right now, immigration reform is our Goliath,” said Mathews. Just as for the stone-throwing David in his biblical battle with the giant Goliath, “the smooth stones are there, we need to pick them up, and, if need be, throw them,” he said.
“The Torah teaches us to love the stranger and it is our embrace of him (the stranger) that expresses our highest values,” said Rabbi Stephen Weiss of B’nai Jeshuran Congregation. “Let us return to the love of the immigrant; it is that love that has made this a great nation,” he said.
President Barack Obama has pledged to take up the issue of immigration reform in 2010. Immigration reform has been discussed in the U.S. House and Senate for over two decades. The only tangible result is that conditions have been made increasingly harsh for undocumented workers due to policies developed in the interest of homeland security and the war on terrorism, according to Dahlberg.
Additionally, since 1993, the number of undocumented workers residing in the U.S., mostly from Mexico, has quadrupled as poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean has exponentially increased, according to Max Blackman, representing the office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
“Senator Brown is well aware that NAFTA, CAFTA, and the failure to enforce labor laws in this country” have created the current crisis, said Blackman. “We must take steps to bring illegal immigration out of the shadows,” he said.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which includes Caribbean countries, are believed by many to have grievously wounded the economies of Latin American and Caribbean countries. The result has been massive job losses in these countries, particularly in the agricultural sector, where U.S. producers have been given unfair competitive advantage.
“The reason we came here is that we could not find jobs in our own countries,” said Max Rodas, a minister at Nueva Luz Church and a member of the Ohio Latino Pastor’s Association. “I am amazed how haters are organized and create the havoc that they do,” said Rodas.
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