The Grand March

The Grand March Ekinadese Okhomina, Betsy Lomeli, and Lin Li

In March of 2006, Congress passed How itthe allComprehensive started immigration reform Act. In the bill, Congress added more border patrol to the Southern borders of the US; in other words, in Mexico.

This bill also allowed border patrols to beyond the border, find people in different states, and deport them. (109th Congress, 2006)

This policy was unfair because it is directly targeting immigrants of color.

Because of this people took to the streets of Chicago to protest (Glaister & MacAskill, 2006). Soon, these protests spread across the US and a Day without immigrants took place (Ferre et al., 2006).

It is also good to keep in mind that “About 7.2 million illegal immigrants hold jobs in the United States, making up 4.9 percent of the overall labor force, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C.” and “Undocumented workers make up 24 percent of farm workers and hold 14 percent of construction jobs, the study found.”

Despite this fact immigrants are still being targeted by the government.

This is why the form of protest “A Day without Immigrants” is as impactful as it is.

Later on immigrants started to protest these absurd laws which impacted how immigrants all over the world were viewed. Therefore on March 29, 2006 Immigrants and activists started to gain a voice and conducted the biggest immigration protest. Also, parts of the protest consisted of a day without immigrants meaning no school, no work, and no shopping. (stelloh,2017)

The protest was a call for action to remove some policies. “ La Gran Marcha” wasn’t a success after all but the satisfaction of fighting for what is fair made the immigration protests extraordinary.

(Ferre et al., 2006).

“Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the protests "very positive" and said, "What's clear is that they're peaceful. What's clear is that they're in a celebratory mood."

These protest resulted in the Senate passing a bill, leaving consequences that affected immigrant communities. Over the next few years, more than 300,000 undocumented immigrants were deported back to their home “Retired Col. Albert F. countries.

Rodriguez, a war veteran, said he understands the contribution immigrants have made to the United States, "but the difference is that we and millions of others like us did it legally. We're all here today to tell all those illegal protesters, 'You do not speak for me.' " (Ferre, Garlikov, Oppenheim, Spoerry, Keck, and Whitbeck, 2006)

This was 100,000 more immigrant than were deported in 2005, the year before the protest . U.S. immigrants of color continue to be deported. This is an issue because white immigrants aren't being deported at the same rate as immigrants of color.

“Nearly half of the 2.3 million encounters on the southern border resulted in expulsions under Title 42 — the public health rule that essentially allows border agents to bypass normal immigration procedures and rapidly expel migrants without giving them a chance to seek asylum.”

Why are so many borders being added to the US” Southern borders and not the Northern borders?

This is largely due to Xenophobia. People coming in from North America are mainly white people from Canada, another English speaking country with a pretty similar culture. In the US the stereotype of Canadians is that they’re too nice.

Xenophobia - dislike or prejudice against people from other countries

However on the other side, the Southern border is close to countries like Mexico, where the culture and language is completely different. Nativism comes into play as well as a lot the US’ majority (white people) believe that people shouldn’t “come into their country” (Engler and Engler, 2006)

References Alphabetize this list, in APA format, including hyperlinks if retrieved from internet:

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Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, S. 2611, 109th Cong.

(2006).https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/2611

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Ferre, I., Garlikov, L., Oppenheim, K., Spoerry, S., Keck, K. & Ｗhitbeck, H. (2006). Hundreds of thousands march for immigrant rights. CNN. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/02/immigrant.day/

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Glaister, D., MacAskill, E.(2006, May 2). US counts cost of day without immigrants. The Guardian. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/may/02/usa.topstories3

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Stelloh, T.(2006 April 30). Tens of thousands expected in May Day protests across U.S. NBCNews.com. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tens-thousands-expected-may-da y-protests-across-u-s-n753066

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Kim, J. (2023, January 7). Ice arrests and deportations started to pick up in 2022, a federal report shows. NPR. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.npr.org/2023/01/07/1146510281/ice-deportations-report-immigr ation-2022

Image links 2 and 3. https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/2611 4. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tens-thousands-expected -may-day-protests-across-u-s-n753066

5. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/02/immigrant.day/ 6. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/immigrant-protes ts-peak/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/109th_United_States_Congress 7. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017/07/06/trump -s-plan-for-border-patrol-ice-hiring-surges-face-timing-secur ity-obstacles/ https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/2006_immigrant_right s.htm 8. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/us/politics/biden-sout hern-border-immigration.html 9. http://thisisanuprising.org/2016/03/04/the-massive-immigra nts-rights-protests-of-2006-are-still-changing-politics/

(This is the back cover)