Pitzer in the News 2006-2007 Academic Year

Professor Jose Calderon in the News

Cesar Chavez pilgrimage set for April 14
By Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/30/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

POMONA - In front of a group of day laborers, United Farm Workers union co-founder Dolores Huerta on Thursday urged immigrants, their children and grandchildren to lobby leaders in Congress to support immigration reform.

Huerta and immigrant-rights supporters gathered at Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, also known as the Pomona Day Labor Center, to announce the date of the sixth annual Cesar Chavez Day Pilgrimage.

Starting at 9:30 a.m. April 14 at Pomona City Hall, the march will conclude at Cesar Chavez Park, 2720 Barjud Ave.

Chavez, whom the march will honor, valued service to others and used peaceful means to bring attention to the plight of farmworkers.

Huerta recently called for families and children to participate in marches that urge for immigration reform. The march in Pomona is an opportunity to take part, said Jose Calderon, president of the Latino-Latina Roundtable of the San Gabriel and Pomona Valley, one of the groups organizing the event.

A separate march is scheduled for April 29 in Los Angeles.

"This is a march for children," Huerta said, adding often children and families are most affected when a family member is arrested in an immigration raid.

She also added it's the responsibility of descendants of immigrants to participate in the marches and support a call for immigration reform.

Those advocating for immigrant rights have called for reforms that include legalization for undocumented immigrants and a path to citizenship.

Huerta said that U.S. citizens must stop to think why people from places such as Mexico and Central America leave to illegally enter the United States.

"There are no job opportunities," she said. "They're going to go where they need to go for their families to survive."

Huerta said a small window of opportunity exists that must be used to work out an immigration reform bill. If it doesn't happen this year, it won't happen next year, when the 2008 elections take place.

Huerta said although Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., has introduced immigration legislation, other lawmakers will present better proposals and something will be hammered out.

It's up to people to write legislators and urge them to support positive reform legislation, she said.

"Leaders can propose many things but they need votes" from other lawmakers in order for the legislation to pass, Huerta said.

Federation for American Immigration Reform spokesman Ira Mehlman agreed and said the closer to the 2008 election, the less likely immigration reform legislation will be approved.

"Most people thought with the Democrats in control of Congress (immigration reform) would be a slam dunk" and it hasn't turned out that way, he said.

Democrats want President Bush to "sell" the idea of immigration reform to the public but that won't work, Mehlman said.

"There is no support for it and the politicians know the voters won't support it," he said. "They can't sell it to the American public."

Among the laborers listening to Huerta on Thursday was Santiago Pacheco of Pomona. Pacheco came to the U.S. illegally from the state of Puebla in Mexico because he couldn't earn enough in factory jobs to support his wife and three children.

He said listening to Huerta was comforting.

"She's a great support to everyone and encourages us to continue going forward," he said.

Staff writer Monica Rodriguez can be reached by e-mail at m_rodriguez@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909) 483-9336.

Presence of Klan ends rally
Minutemen call off illegal-worker protest
Sahra Susman, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 04/01/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - An illegal-immigration protest organized by the Minuteman Project on Saturday morning was foiled by the arrival of members of the Ku Klux Klan.

About 10 members of the white-supremacist group showed up at Arrow Highway and Grove Avenue and proceeded to shout chants and wave an American flag. Some members wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with the KKK insignia concealed their identity with bandannas and sunglasses.

One man identified himself as a member of the White Legion Knights of the Ku Klux Klan from Yucaipa.

KKK members said they were at the protest to support the Minuteman Project but refused to comment further.

Minuteman Project National Rally spokesman Raymond Herrera said his group of about 40 members decided to leave shortly after the KKK showed up.

Herrera said Minuteman Project members did not invite the KKK and would no longer post the dates of protests on its Web site.

"We don't approve of standing anywhere near the KKK - they're not with us," said Herrera, a Mexican-American from Victorville. "We're a multi-ethnic group. We don't believe in racism, and when the Nazis show up we cancel the rallies immediately. We do not intermingle and we do not believe in their philosophy."

San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies and Upland police officers monitored the protest. No arrests were made.

The agencies did confirm reports were made that KKK members were in attendance.

But when Minuteman Project members left, the protest at the intersection didn't stop.

More than 100 day laborers and affiliates counter-protested in front of Arrow Grove Market. The noisy group focused their attention on the KKK and other remaining protesters, which numbered less than 20.

For about three hours, protesters from all sides of the immigration debate - and the intersection - chanted and shouted at each other as well as passing vehicles.

The intersection at Arrow and Grove divides Rancho Cucamonga and Upland and has been a traditional meeting spot for day laborers who congregate there looking for work.

Minuteman Project National Rally Coordinator Robin Hvidston said she planned Saturday's protest in order "to bring awareness to the fact that employers were taking advantage of foreign national workers."

Employers who hire illegal immigrants are breaking the law and the Minuteman Project wants city officials to see "what is going on on their sidewalks," Hvidston said.

In 2003, the Rancho Cucamonga City Council approved the nonprofit TOUCH Outreach Ministries to operate a day-labor center near the intersection. But when the property owner decided to develop the land, the center was forced to close last summer.

Day laborers still gather in the vicinity seeking employment.

"It's true that there are problems when workers meet on the corner," said Jose Calderon, a sociology and Chicano studies professor at Pitzer College and president of the Latino-Latina Roundtable of San Gabriel and Pomona Valley.

"It brings forward the need to collaborate with other nonprofits and work with the community to develop a day-labor center where people can gather safely."

Mike Nava, a former Pomona Day Labor Center executive director, said he visits the site daily in an effort to keep the day laborers organized.

"We're trying to get them another (day-labor) center," he said.

Debbie McClay, a teacher in Orange County, said she provides English lessons to day laborers on Saturdays near the site.

"I feel really strongly that a center is important and something that we need to protect the workers," McClay said.

Will Downing, a Pomona College student who teaches a weekly English class on a sidewalk near the intersection, said day laborers provide a service for employers.

"We're here to confront the Minutemen and defend the (day laborers') right to petition work on the public's sidewalk," Downing said.

Upland resident Debra Bedoy said she was exercising her right as a U.S. citizen to protest against illegal immigrants.

"These people sneak in the back door and they cut in front of the line," Bedoy said. "I've talked to legal immigrants and every one of them is angry."

Gregg Acker, a manger at Lee Wise Garage, an auto repair shop near the intersection, said more than 50 day laborers gather daily within a two-block radius of his shop, "swamping the parking lot and blocking the driveway."

"My problem ... is loitering," he said.

Across the street, Arrow Grove Market manager Salim Samouh said the protest on Saturday had negatively affected business.

"When they see 100 people outside, they're not going to stop by," Samouh said.

"I feel sorry for the whole situation. It's not either side's problem. It's the government."