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LOCAL News :: Civil & Human Rights

U.S. citizens, non-Hispanics in thick of fight for reform

Chris Mahin leans over a poster board and writes out the message he plans to hold up among throngs of demonstrators expected to turn out nationwide Monday to push for immigration reform; it reads, "We're all immigrants — check your family tree!"
The Irish American's roots in this country go back more than 100 years — not quite fitting the stereotypical image of today's immigration rights demonstrator. Then again, neither do many activists calling on Congress to pass laws that would pave the way for 11 million undocumented workers to get U.S. citizenship.

"They may have taken the lead, but this isn't just a Hispanic movement anymore," said the 53-year-old Mahin, who recently attended a night of sign-making in preparation for the May 1 march in Chicago. "More U.S. citizens are getting involved than ever."

Monday's demonstration in this multiethnic city is a case in point.

Many key roles in organizing the event that could attract up to half a million demonstrators here falls to U.S. citizens, established churches, unions and ethnic groups — like the 84-year-old Polish American Association.

"What drew me to this cause was to honor the courage of my own Polish grandparents in coming to the United States," said Karen Popowski, the association's executive director. "We are supporting this march to show that immigrants are part of what makes America great."

Her group is calling on members of the Chicago-area's 800,000-strong Polish community — including up to 100,000 undocumented Poles — to turn out. The association is urging Polish-language media to publicize the march, and it's asking Polish priests to speak about the event from the pulpit.

"Most undocumented workers don't come for themselves but for their kids," said Popowski. "They deserve a better chance at American citizenship."

Mahin, whose ancestors came to the United States in the 1800s to escape the Irish potato famine, says many of his fellow Irish Americans would agree. He says many recall that there was a time when anti-immigrant sentiment was directed at the Irish.

"In my experience, even a conservative Irish American tends to have liberal views when it comes to immigration," he said. "The famine and job-wanted signs in this country that once said 'Irish Need Not Apply' left such an impression on the Irish-American consciousness."

Much support for the immigrant rights movement also comes from Mexican Americans who already have citizenship.

"When I wasn't documented, I remember the panic — wondering if I could get a job," said Jorge Mujica, a member of the rally organizers' steering committee who became a naturalized citizen in 1994, years after overstaying a tourist visa. "I felt obliged to help now."

Mujica estimated 95 percent of those at an immigration rights demonstration that drew more than 100,000 people last month in Chicago were Mexicans and a large number of them were undocumented. The proportion of citizens and non-Hispanics should be far higher at Monday's rally, he said.

The number of organizations involved in Monday's demonstration has soared to 200 from around 50 a few weeks ago, and they include a wide range of non-Hispanic groups, like the Arab American Action Network and Pan African Association, said Kathy Salgado, a spokeswoman for the Chicago rally.

But support doesn't run deep everywhere in Chicago's ethnic communities.

"There are Poles who maybe say, 'I waited 15 years and did it legally before I got citizenship, so why should these others be able to jump ahead of the line," said Adam Steinberg, a host on a Polish-language talk show on WNWI-AM radio in Chicago.

Sympathy for undocumented workers among Americans is often related to whether they fully appreciate the hardships encountered by their own immigrant ancestors, Mujica said.

"Many Americans have lost the sense that their own grandparents and great-grandparents were immigrants and maybe spoke German, Italian or French when they got here," he said. "They have forgotten that they came from immigrants, too."
 
 

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