Immigration Reformers Add ‘Texting’ to Toolbox
By Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGP Staff Writer
While marches and rallies are long used strategies to call attention to political issues, cell phone text messaging has been added to the list of tools supporters of immigration reform are adding to their campaign arsenal.
People at the rally were urged to text ‘JUSTICE’ to their local Congress person to support immigration reform which they said would aid the economy. (EGP Photo by Gloria Angelina Castillo)
On Monday, about 200 people of all ages marched from Our Lady Queen of Angels Church at Olvera Street to Los Angeles City Hall in support of a national campaign to reform US immigration laws and support legalization for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
They were encouraged to pull out their cell phones and join a new message alert network created to pressure action from California’s elected officials in Washington D.C. on comprehensive immigration reform.
“Can we pull out those cell phones?” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in LA (CHIRLA) “We want you to join to our local action network,” she said, instructing marchers to text “JUSTICE” to the number 698-66. “[When you do it] will connect you with local Congress people. When you dial today, it will connect you with Congresswoman [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi.
“We want justice and justice will come when we reform our immigration laws,” she said at the “Reform Immigration for America” campaign rally: one of 40 taking place across the country.
Other speakers also supported quick action on immigration laws, including Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who, speaking in both English and Spanish, said changing US immigration policy will strengthen families and the economy.
Anton Farmby, president of United Security Officers of Los Angeles (Local 2006), said he was at the rally because there is a problem—and that problem is the current system that allows employers to exploit workers and deport them.
Taeyeon Kim, a Los Angeles Community College student, spoke out for passage of the Dream Act; legislation to allow undocumented students who have been in the US for at least five years to receive, under certain conditions, a six-year conditional residency designation that could become permanent if they earn a college degree or spend two years-in good standing-in the US Armed Forces. Kim said it is important to the county’s future to develop the talents of undocumented students.
For more information about this campaign, or to sign up for email message alerts, visit: http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/.
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June 4, 2009 Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
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