Hundreds rally for immigration rights outside of University of Michigan commencement

[stopracism]

Hundreds rally for immigration rights outside of University of Michigan commencement
mlive.com
May 1, 2010
http://www.annarbor.com/news/governm...-commencement/

While tens of thousands convened inside Michigan Stadium to hear President Barack Obama speak, hundreds gathered a short distance away to make their case for immigration reform.

A coalition of local groups, including the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, PeaceWorks, United We Dream, the American Friends Service Committee and Michigan One, hosted Fulfilling the Dream, a rally to support immigration rights.

“This isn’t a rally against the president, this is a rally to remind him,” Ann Arbor resident Dave DeVarti said. “He made a commitment to us, I’m here to remind him of that commitment.”

DeVarti, who said he gave up his own ticket to hear Obama to attend the rally, was among those gathered at Ann Arbor’s Frisinger Park near Michigan Stadium.

Carrying American flags and signs with sayings like “Stop Ripping Families Apart,” “Arizona’s Not the Standard,” and “Obama Don’t Deport My Momma,” participants rallied against Arizona’s recent crackdown on illegal immigrants and for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The legislation would allow undocumented high school students who have been in the United States for more than five years the chance to earn conditional permanent residency and eventually a path to citizenship after a six-year probationary period.
“We want Obama to know to stop the separation of families,” Belleville resident Alberto Torres said.

Just a few weeks ago, a friend of his was arrested in front of his 5-year-old son before being deported back to Mexico, Torres said.

Ypsilanti resident Cassandra Moreno said she also attended the rally to fight to keep her own family together.

Moreno, seven months pregnant, is expecting her fourth child with her husband who is an illegal immigrant.

“We kind of need something to happen so we can keep our family together,” she said. “There’s no way for him to find a way to become legal.”

Concern about keeping families together is exactly what prompted Laura Saunders to co-found the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights two years ago. Saunders, one of several speakers at the rally, said a local crackdown on immigrants led to many children being separated from their parents and placed into foster care.

“It’s become a huge problem for everyone in our community,” she said.
Other speakers shared their own stories on growing up as an undocumented citizen.

An 18-year-old woman named Maribel, who wouldn't give her last name for fear of deportation, said she arrived in the U.S. at age 2 and did not even realize she was undocumented until years later when she could not obtain a library card.

She said it hurt her feelings to be denied rights in a country she loved.

“(When I said the Pledge of Allegiance), I always stood tall, because this is my home,” she said. “This is everything to me.”

The rally finished with a march to the stadium where participants chanted outside the graduation ceremony.

For Mohammed Abdollahi of Michigan One, the rally was an attempt to grab the president’s attention while he was here.

“We want to show Obama, regardless of his failed promises, we haven’t forgotten,” he said. “We’re not going to let him just walk away.”