Immigrant Rights Activists March on ICE on Day After Inauguration

Even as the masses celebrating President Obama's inauguration dispersed, a new crowd gathered Wednesday for a day-after march to place immigrant rights atop the president's agenda.

Immigrant advocates know their nativist opponents plan to deploy online organizing and viral communication to counter any attempts at immigration reform this year. They intend to seize every opportunity to build momentum on their side.

The pro-immigrant activists, many immigrants themselves, marched on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters to remind the fledgling administration of their demand for a "just and humane" immigration policy.

"It's an opportunity to celebrate, but also to point forward to the great need for immigration reform in the months ahead," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

Immigrant advocates believe Pres. Barack Obama will stick to his promise to begin work on comprehensive immigration reform in his first year in office. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said the immigration system is "broken." And even before a major overhaul is proposed, activists hope for changes to some of the most criticized aspects of current immigration policy.

These may include the huge backlog in naturalization requests, the workplace raids that have sown chaos in immigrant communities, inhumane detention centers, or the "287(g)" program, which delegates immigration enforcement to state troopers, county sheriffs or local police.

The activists that gathered outside ICE headquarters were guided by interdenominational religious leaders in a "ceremonial cleansing," marking what they hope will be the agency's shift away from what they deem an "enforcement-only" approach.

The event was organized by the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM), a coalition of state-level and national groups working for comprehensive immigration reform. FIRM also ran an ad campaign on signs atop Washington, D.C. cabs that showed real immigrants' faces and said: "Mr. President, count on me." Also distributed were T-shirts and signs bearing the slogan, "I am immigrant America."

FIRM's blog on Inauguration Day noted that in his inaugural address, Obama "spoke of a country that ensures freedom for all … Now, it’s our time to make sure that the same freedom and the same values include the immigrants of America."

The post-inaugural march is only a beginning. Immigrant advocates spoke about the need for maintaining momentum in the first months of Obama's administration. Though they perceive the new administration as sympathetic and staffed with some prominent supporters of their cause (most notably Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz, a veteran of the immigration reform movement) they don't want to let their guard down.

Across the country, advocates plan for more actions, coordinated through an increasingly sophisticated communications network, to build a groundswell in favor of reform. For example, on Jan. 22 on Long Island, a hotspot in the immigration wars, the ecumenical Council of Churches plans to release a major statement on the need for "immigration solutions."

High-ranking elected officials, including Republicans, seem to be echoing activists' renewed call for an immigration overhaul, despite the country's economic woes and the failure of an immigration reform law in the U.S. Senate as recently as the summer of 2007.

Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state, has said the failure of immigration reform, which she considered important to national security, was her biggest regret. Republican senators Mel Martinez and John McCain have both said they feel their party must tone down some members' hard-line rhetoric on immigration in order to be competitive among immigrant voters.