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More than 300 Tri-City residents are boarding a fleet of buses to Seattle this morning to send a message to federal legislators.
They will join an estimated 10,000 people converging on Seattle's Occidental Park to discuss immigration reform at an event planned by the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition, made up of more than 60 organizations, faith groups and unions.
Samanta Jimenez of Kennewick and Jazmin Santacruz of Pasco plan to be on one of the eight buses bound for the rally.
Santacruz and Jimenez know families in the Hispanic community who have been split up through deportation.
About 10 years ago, Santacruz said her brother Omar, who was in his 20s, was deported to Mexico, where he now lives with his family. Santacruz's family moved to the Tri-Cities years ago from Jalisco, in Guadalajara, Mexico, and most live here today.
Santacruz said U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers can detain and deport immigrant parents while a child remains in the country.
"We want to keep families together," she said. "We want that to stop."
Jimenez said she hopes the rally will help change immigration laws.
David Ayala, organizing director for OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigration advocacy organization that is one of the rally's sponsors, said today's event is part of a national effort to encourage the federal government to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill that started five months ago.
The federal House of Representatives already has a bill, HR 4321, but the Senate still needs to create one for the conversation to start, he said.
Today was chosen for the rally because federal legislators are heading back to Washington, D.C., after their spring recess, Ayala said.
In addition to the eight buses from the Tri-Cities, eight more will come from Yakima and three from Walla Walla, Ayala said. More people are planning to attend in other vehicles, he said.
President Obama promised to overhaul immigration reform during his first year in office. Santacruz, a Tri-Cities OneAmerica committee member, said the year is up, and now some are wondering, "When is it going to happen?"
Some of Santacruz's aunts and uncles were able to pay a fee and become legal residents, she said. She hopes to see something similar happen soon. There needs to be a way for people who entered as undocumented residents to become legal citizens or residents, Santacruz said.
The current immigration system gives people little hope of citizenship, she said.
Jimenez has a 19-year-old friend whose family has been trying to get citizenship for the whole family since she was 3. They've wasted a lot of money on lawyers and still haven't been able to become citizens, Jimenez said.
Those who entered the country as children, lacking citizenship or visas, face few options after high school, she said. They can't go to college, and many jobs remain inaccessible. For some, there isn't a reason to finish high school and they drop out.
At the rally, some will share stories about what it is like to be an undocumented resident or live in the country on a temporary visa, Ayala said. The program starts at 11 a.m., with discussion about the issues beginning at noon.
Comprehensive reform isn't just about getting citizenship documents for those immigrants living in the country, Ayala said. It's about changing the system.
Right now, an immigrant can apply for citizenship and wait 15 to 20 years before it is granted, he said. Immigration policies can also split families, with some members here and some sent back to their countries of origin.
"This is not about aliens," Ayala said. "This is about human beings."
-- On the net: weareoneamerica.org
-- Kristi Pihl: 582-1512; kpihl@tricityherald.com
