Hundreds of advocates of immigration reform marched on Market Street Wednesday, March 24, to protest outside of Senator Diane Feinstein’s office urging her to push for legislation that would help those without documentation obtain legal status.
The crowd of mostly Latinos, and some Asians, marched from the Embarcadero BART station to the senator’s headquarters in the Financial District off Post Street, chanting and waving banners while under the watchful eye of police officers on motorcycles regulating afternoon traffic.
More than a dozen speakers took to the podium to make their voices heard while the crowd chanted, “Feinstein listen, we’re in the struggle”.
San Francisco Supervisor David Campos was among the speakers at the rally calling on legislators to create pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Campos related his own life story of moving to America from Guatemala as an undocumented youth, and despite this graduating from Stanford University and Harvard Law School.
“The point of America is that throughout its history, it has gotten the best from throughout the world,” said Supervisor Campos. “Why turn your back on that talent?”
Speakers and protestors hope to direct pressure on Senator Feinstein who sits on the Senate’s subcommittee on immigration. Feinstein’s office released a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle the next day saying she supports comprehensive immigration reform.
Ali Noorani, Campaign Chair for the Reform Immigration for America group, said organizers will be pushing for bipartisan legislation to be introduced in Congress by the end of April and that protesters are going to “take to the streets” again in April and May to continue to pressure legislators to pass an immigration reform bill.
About a quarter of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are California residents, according to event organizers.
The march in San Francisco followed a rally in Washington D.C. last week that drew thousands of people calling for Congress to focus on immigration reform, now that Washington has moved forward on the health care debate.