Porfirio Hernandez arrived at Our Lady of the Angels Church in Downtown Los Angeles holding a banner emblazoned with messages: "Obama, Listen" and "Stop the Raids" and "Legalization for All."
Hernandez is one of approximately 1,600 workers fired by Downtown garment maker American Apparel late last year after federal authorities ordered the terminations based on paperwork discrepancies indicating they were undocumented. Hernandez said he came to the February 1 event at the little Roman Catholic church near the El Pueblo Historical Monument in the Civic Center district as a last resort. He pinned his hopes on an elected official from far away — Luis Gutierrez, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represents a section of Chicago, hometown of President Barack Obama. Hernandez said he now looks to Gutierrez to "reignite" the Latino community's spirits to keep fighting for immigration reform with a call for a rally in Washington, D.C., on March 21.
"I'm desperate because I really doubt that immigration reform will be approved," Hernandez said. "Time passes and no one comes to an agreement — not Obama, and not the members of Congress. Like many here, I'm disappointed with the president because he won a lot of votes from the Latinos who supported him because he promised to legalize millions, and now it seems like he's 'chickened' out."
Disappointment with Obama has put more focus on Gutierrez.
"I'm here with almost no hope in order to listen to the Congressman," said Hernandez, a husband and father of three. "I already feel the noose around my neck because our financial situation is very difficult since I don't have a regular job since I don't have papers."
There are millions more facing situations similar to Hernandez', including some who are now disheartened. Consider the person who recently called into popular Spanish-language radio host El Piolin's show upon hearing the congressman from Chicago was his guest for the day.
"I was with El Piolin when someone called and told us: 'I'm tired — we're never going to have reform,'" Gutierrez told the crowd at the Downtown church. "He said 'give up already, because the Yankees don't want us."
Gutierrez also then told the crowd that they have no right to quit working and hoping for immigration reform.
"We don't have the right to give up," Gutierrez said. "We have the responsibility to not rest until all of us in this country have the same rights and benefits."
Gutierrez is the author of an immigration reform proposal known as HR 4321, or CIR-ASAP. The proposal currently has 92 sponsors in the 435-seat House of Representatives in Washington. Gutierrez said he hopes the proposal will be discussed in the House of Representative and the U.S. Senate this summer — and he urged the people of Los Angeles to a rally at the White House on March 21 to pressure the president.
"I'm making a call for us to meet in Washington, D.C. on March 21, but you all have to have faith in this struggle, to travel, to go, or invite your families who live near the White House to go there," Gutierrez said. The point, he said, is to make sure that "when the president gets up that morning at the White House and opens the curtains in his room, he sees your faces and hears the voices of our community demanding justice."
There had been some general optimism in the Latino community about the possibility of taking the debate over immigration reform to the Congress this year, but that disappeared after Obama's State of the Union message in January. The president barely touched on the topic, and offered no definitive outlook.
"I believe in the president, and I like him a lot, and I respect him a lot, but when it comes to this topic, the truth is he's disappointed me," Gutierrez told the crowd at La Placita. "Sometimes I do things wrong and my wife tells me I'm wrong. She doesn't say it because she hates me, but because she loves me and wants me to do things better — and that's why we will tell the president what we're feeling, so he'll mend his ways and be a better president."
Gerardo Rojas had tears in his eyes and his one-year-old daughter in his arms when he urged the crowd at La Placita to participate in the rally the congressman is proposing.
"I'm coming to ask help from the Congressmen," Rojas said. "I'm facing a deportation order, and my family and I are going through emotional and financial hard times. I don't feel it's fair — don't they (elected officials in Washington) see what they're doing?"
Gutierrez said he is convinced that it is the right time for the community to take the reins of this struggle.
"Let's cast a vote of confidence in the president, but given the speech in which he spoke without emotion, without love, without enthusiasm about immigration reform in 24 words, without leaving a clear message about how we're doing, I believe it's time that we lead the way," Gutierrez said. "And that's why we say, we're going to go back to using different weapons, and one of them is that we're going to meet in Washington, D.C. on March 21 so that he (the president) will have to hear our voices."
Gutierrez also left the crowd in Los Angeles with a clear impression that exerting enough pressure to prompt presidential leadership will be required to make Congress move on immigration reform.
"I'll put it this way, the president gave that poor message during his State of the Union," Gutierrez said. "What do you want members of Congress to do if the team captain doesn't give instructions as to what the player should do? So, you don't have a team and you might not prepare. In this case, the members of Congress listened to the President, the leader, and they said, 'there's not much to do on this,' so they don't do anything."
Gutierrez said the March 21 date for the planned rally is key because it comes just before Congress goes on vacation for two weeks.
"And we don't go back until the middle of April," he said. "And, given my experience, all that's going to go on in May, June, and July is the fight to see who's going to fight to have the majority in November."
Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor/AFL-CIO organized the event at La Placita, which drew 34th District U.S. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard and the 32nd district's Judy Chu. Both are Democrats; Roybal-Allard represents Downtown and a number of adjacent areas; Chu represents a section of the San Gabriel Valley to the east of Downtown. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Charlie Beck also attended the event.
Nora Alicia Estrada is a writer for Impulso.
Photos by Impulso.
Read more stories from Impulso »
Leave a comment