Barrios Fired Up for Sunday’s Immigration March

NEW YORK--It is being billed as the largest immigration protest since the mass demonstrations of 2006. 

In immigrant neighborhoods nationwide the expectation ahead of Sunday’s march in Washington, D.C., was palpable. 

In New York, immigrants gathered days before the protest to paint signs with messages like “Obama, keep your promise.” Popular FM stations La Mega and Amor broadcast special PSAs encouraging people to join bus caravans to the nation’s capital. 

Tens of thousands of immigrant activists and their allies from around the country--with an estimated 10,000 from the New York area alone--will converge this Sunday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

The goal is to put comprehensive immigration reform firmly back on the political agenda after a year in which immigrant communities have been bitterly disappointed by congressional and White House foot-dragging. 

Organizers’ ultimate aim: immigration reform legislation before the November 2010 mid-term elections. 

“The march is only one step in a much longer trajectory for us in getting this passed,” Gabe Gonzalez, lead organizer of Sunday’s protest, told New America Media in a phone interview. 

On Thursday, Gonzalez sent supporters an urgent fund-raising e-mail to finance transport costs for last-minute marchers. 

According to the e-mail, organizers wanted to “make sure that on Sunday afternoon, everyone sees just how powerful the immigration reform movement is and that lawmakers give us the respect we deserve. But that won't happen unless we bring a crowd so big, it exceeds expectations.“ 

Even without a last-minute bump, turnout goals already seem to have been met, if not surpassed, organizers said. There are more than 50,000 participants registered, and 819 buses traveling to the capital from 33 states.

Prominent labor, civil rights, religious and immigrant organizations all collaborated in turning out marchers.

Longtime observers of the immigration debate said that in many ways the goals of the demonstration--dubbed “March for America”--already have been achieved. 

“I think it’s already having a big impact, and the event hasn’t even happened yet,” said Angela Kelley, vice president of immigration policy and advocacy at the pro-reform progressive think tank Center for American Progress. 

Late last year, immigrant advocates were confronted with the perception in Washington, D.C., that immigration was off the radar. 

“We realized we needed a game changer,” said Gonzalez, who works with the Reform Immigration for America campaign. “We couldn’t allow this to play out like that.” 

So the decision was made by advocates to try the tactic that could set immigration apart from other issues vying for politicians’ attention: a mass mobilization. 

The strategy seems to have worked. As the plans for Sunday’s protest built, President Obama and Cabinet officials granted a series of meetings to immigrant advocates. 

“This meeting with Obama wouldn’t have happened without this incredible grassroots movement,” said Norman Eng, spokesman for the New York Immigration Coalition. 

On Friday, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed the outline of their bipartisan immigration reform bill through an op-ed in The Washington Post. It includes a national identity card for legal workers, strong enforcement and border security, a temporary worker program, and a path to legalization for unauthorized immigrants already in the country.

Immigrant advocates often repeat that President Obama won the 2008 elections partly on the backs of 2 million new immigrant voters and Latinos who tilted 2-1 in his favor. Inaction on immigration could risk forfeiting this support.