3-Day Fast Supports Immigration Overhaul

withchemicals · 06-02-2010, 10:56 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/nyregion/03immig.html

Quote:

With the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as a backdrop, more than 40 people, including several New York politicians and clergy members, gathered in Battery Park on Wednesday to start a three-day fast to press for a comprehensive immigration overhaul.

The protest is the latest in a wave of demonstrations by immigrants and their advocates in the New York region and around the country that have included rallies, vigils, marches and acts of civil disobedience. Most of them have been meant to express impatience with the Obama administration and Congress for postponing long-discussed change to the nation’s immigration system.

In three separate protests over the past three weeks, a total of 109 activists have been arrested for blocking traffic in front of Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, where the government’s immigration agencies have their New York offices.

“What you’re seeing is definitely a pivot in the way that immigrants are expressing their anger,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella advocacy group. “Immigrants feel they have to express their anger and their demand for justice in more dramatic ways than in the past.”

After a morning news conference in Battery Park, many of the fasters took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Most intend to spend the remainder of the fast at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. Among them was Adela Valdez, 39, an illegal immigrant from Mexico and a community activist, who said that fasting was just one of many tools that demonstrators have to employ to compel lawmakers to take action.

“We have to use all our resources,” she said.

Wondering1983 · 06-03-2010, 12:46 PM

I know Gabriel.
We used to protest for the same organization; I see he is using his leadership skills

Good luck to him and the rest!

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3-Day Fast Supports Immigration Overhaul