SALINAS CALIFORNIAN 

July 2, 2009

Salinas residents say they are tired of waiting for immigration reform

Local grassroots group grows as Salinas residents speak out on issue

BY MARIA INES ZAMUDIO

On Wednesday evening, Salinas resident Juana Rojas said she had an important job to do.

After getting off work, Rojas got ready and went to church not to pray but to organize with others and demand comprehensive immigration reform.

"We are tired of waiting," the farmworker said in Spanish. "I'm a citizen now and [politicians] need my vote. We have to mobilize by any means."

Rojas said she has family members who have been separated because of what she calls "a broken immigration system."

She was one of the hundreds of farmworkers and community members from Salinas and around Monterey County who gathered at St. Mary of the Nativity church in east Salinas to ask U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, to push for immigration reform in Washington, D.C.

"My heart is with the people who better this county with their labor," Farr told the audience in Spanish. "I need an army of people. ... We are changing this country to fulfill the dreams for everyone and not just a small group. I'll be your voice in Washington."

Wednesday's community meeting in Salinas followed action by the Obama administration which launched investigations of hundreds of businesses around the country as part of its strategy to focus immigration enforcement on employers who hire illegal workers.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has begun notifying businesses of plans to audit their I-9 forms ' employment eligibility documents that employers fill out for every worker ' the agency told members of Congress in an e-mail Wednesday.

National push for reform

The president has said immigration reform could be done by the end of the year or early next year.

Obama has urged Americans to hold community forums to discuss issues such as immigration reform and health care and to forward their ideas for solutions to his adminstration.

His request was answered locally by the Salinas Valley Coalition for Immigration Reform, formed by the United Farm Workers Union and Monterey County Supervisors Simon Salinas and Fernando Armenta.

The group, which organized Wednesday's forum, is pushing for a single piece of legislation that would include legalization for undocumented workers, family reunification and a guest worker program.

The coalition was founded after U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez visited Salinas last month as part of his nationwide "Family Unity" tour highlighting how the nation's immigration system negatively affects families.

At Wednesday's forum, Salinas-area residents shared personal experiences involving immigration issues. One speaker encouraged all legal residents to become U.S. citizens and vote.

Rojas said that even though Obama hasn't been aggressive about immigration reform, she remains hopeful.

"We have to be positive about what the president promised," she said. "But if nothing happens, we must do something."