Immigration ralliers hit LR

Hundreds of immigration advocates chanting “Si, se puede,” marched to the state Capitol on Saturday, calling for an overhaul of what they deem “a broken system.”

Wrapping up National Week of Dignity and Respect, marchers went from Philander Smith College and Dickey-Stephens Park to the steps of the Capitol to rally for immigration changes, said organizer Mireya Reith. Immigration advocates nationwide, noting the stalled federal legislation on immigration changes, called for the week to bring attention to the “broken system,” she said.

“One thousand one hundred people are still being deported every day,” said Reith, executive director of the Arkansas United Community Coalition,a nonprofit immigrant-rights group. “Our system is still broken. It’s affecting our families; it’s affecting our economy. And we need to get immigration reform fixed now.”

Bishop Anthony Taylor of the Diocese of Little Rock said there’s a basic truth that’s “consistently ignored” in the national immigration debate: People have a God-given right to immigrate when circumstances require it. That includes those who flee from extreme poverty or oppression, he said.

“National borders are at the service of a common good of both nations that serve that border, not just the perceived interest of the powerful of the two,” he said.

He added that though Scripture doesn’t generally condone breaking laws, it is a sin to obey an unjust law. Unjust laws undermine respect for the rule of law far more than violating such a law does, Taylor said, adding that this was the case in the “struggle for civil rights.”

“Amnesty” is inappropriate when talking about regularization of status for illegal aliens, he said, because amnesty means forgiveness for wrongdoing.

“But the ones who need forgiveness are the ones in government … those in government who refuse to correct this injustice,” he said.

State Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, introduced the DREAM Act in the Arkansas General Assembly three times, but each time the bill failed. Federal legislators have been unsuccessful in efforts to pass a similar act, which would have offered legal status to those younger than 35 who arrived in the U.S. before age 16, have lived here for five years and have earned high school diplomas.

Elliott told demonstrators to remain resilient.

“So know this: When the road gets long, you keep on marching. When the times get hard, you keep on working,” Elliott said. “When you are in the middle of a nightmare, you must keep dreaming.”