ORLANDO SENTINEL April 11, 2006 Immigration gathering set for May 1 in Orlando Victor Manuel Ramos and Tanya Perez-Brennan
Sentinel Staff Writers
Florida immigrants and advocates will gather in Orlando next month for a statewide demonstration in favor of reforms that would legalize hundreds of thousands of illegal workers and families living in the state.
Organizers are meeting this week to iron out details of the demonstration that could take the form of a rally, a march or even a work stoppage May 1 -- in a state with about 880,000 illegal immigrants, mostly from Mexico but also from Haiti and other parts of Latin America, who feed the labor force.
The show of support for immigrants in Florida would be part of a national day of events staged by advocacy groups.
"It's going to be huge," said Stephanie Porta, field director of the Central Florida Association of Communities for Reform Now, a group that advocates for low-income people. "We want comprehensive reform. We want plans that give people a path to citizenship. I mean, people want to be legal."
Congress stalled last week on passing an immigration-reform package. The House of Representatives had approved an enforcement-driven bill last year, but the Senate could not agree on a plan that would balance restrictions with leniency for immigrants who work and pay taxes.
Central Florida's immigrant-advocacy coalition -- which includes groups such as the Farmworker Association of Florida, the Catholic Diocese of Orlando and ACORN -- has followed cues from national groups such as the New American Opportunity Campaign, a coalition mobilizing immigrant supporters.
The nationwide mobilization, primarily among Hispanics, "to have their voices heard in Capitol Hill" is unprecedented, said Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, a Washington, D.C., Hispanic-advocacy group.
Tirso Moreno, who leads the Apopka-based farmworkers group, said his organization would coordinate the May 1 event, "because we want our immigration needs to be addressed." |