Members of PICO National Network, based in San Francisco and surrounding cities, are holding vigils outside the offices of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, to demand her defense of the 11 million undocumented immigrants.
About 40 people attended the first day of vigils April 29. Since then, as the afternoons go by, the number of attendees is growing, according to one of the organizers.
Among the attendees was Olinda Orellano, who said that the undocumented have “every right to be legalized.” She added that many of them have 20 years working honestly in this country.
Marian Cardero, a graduate of Stanford University, said that we should not encourage polarization, but fight to strengthen families. The sociology graduate deemed the move to integrate different Christian and Catholic organizations extraordinary, because having a “common front, we can only expect victory” in legalization.
According to its web page, PICO works to create solutions to the problems faced by people who live in urban, suburban and rural areas, through the work of more than a thousand institutions representing one million families in 150 cities and 17 states.
Two days after the vigils began, PICO-related people participated in a march on May 1 in San Francisco. The May 1 march was part of a larger demonstration that happened simultaneously in more than 250 U.S. cities.
As part of the struggle for securing legislation for immigration reform, PICO has launched “Healing The Wounded Family: a campaign for citizenship and dignity for all our families.”
According to the promotional flyer distributed during the vigil, the campaign “unites Americans of faith and hopeful citizens who believe that full citizenship for the 11 million new Americans is the only answer to the current dysfunctional immigration system, which is consistent with our values of faith and American values of freedom, justice and family.”
Ronald Lind, president of the Union of Workers of Shopping Centers Local 5 (UFCW) sent a message to the daily vigils and May Day parade, aimed at putting pressure on Congress, in hopes that it will vote on the reform next June.
According to the news channel of the union, Lind said that “hundreds of thousands of immigrants are literally forced to come to the U.S., to support their families and then they are exploited and abused.”
UFCW brings together around 30 thousand union members distributed throughout the United States, and in California it ranks third within the private sector unions, as one of its spokesmen, Gerardo Dominguez, said.
“The solution,” Lind said, “is not in deporting immigrant workers, nor erecting a fence on the border or raiding workplaces.”
Rather, he argued that immigration reform should start with the idea that, after some time, immigrants who live and work in the U.S. should have the range of rights and opportunities that are possible in this nation.
PICO will hold vigils every afternoon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 7 pm, outside the office of Senator Feinstein, located at 1 Post Street.
–Translation Chris Y. Campbell