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Community and religious leaders from nine different Western Slope counties called for comprehensive immigration reform at a rally Wednesday inside the Grand Junction City Hall Auditorium.
Three-thousand signed postcards collected in the Grand Valley, and another 3,000 signed petitions from mountain and rural communities on the Western Slope were hand-delivered to Jerry Otero, who represented Sen. Michael Bennet at the rally. The petitions ask for the passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation this year.
Following the rally, dozens of demonstrators walked across the street to deliver signatures to Rep. John Salazar's office asking him to support comprehensive immigration reform as well.
“There are incongruities in our society between our laws and our morals,” said speaker Stephanie Soto of Grand Junction. “Today, we show our representatives that immigration reform can't wait.”
On the same day Coloradoans were rallying, faith leaders from around the country delivered hundreds of thousands of postcards to members of Congress in Washington, D.C.
While there are piecemeal measures in place that address the “broken immigration system,” it is “comprehensive” reform that is needed, said Karen Sherman Perez of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Comprehensive immigration reform would include such principles as “improving the economic situation of all workers in the United States; reforming visa programs to keep families together; protecting workers' rights; and ensuring that future immigration is regulated and controlled rather than illegal and chaotic,” according to Rich Stolz of Reform Immigration FOR America.
The issue of family unity was mentioned often at Wednesday's rally.
“Families are torn apart on a daily basis across Colorado,” when a family member, often a parent, is detained or deported, Sherman Perez said.
Local farmer Mark Harris spoke about his experience hiring immigrant farm workers over the years. Harris, who owns Grand Valley Hybrids and Grand Valley Farms, said he began speaking out for reform after witnessing what he said was unfair policy toward immigrants.
“We didn't want to turn our backs on those who literally put food on our tables,” Harris said. “What began as a moral issue became an economic issue.”
Current law ignores economic reality, Harris said.
“Immigrant labor is important for the continued success for thousands of small businesses in Colorado and the United States,” Harris said.
Eighty percent of farm labor is foreign-born, and half of that is unauthorized, Harris said.
Jose Manuel Camacho of the United Farmers of Telluride said comprehensive immigration reform is needed to stop racial profiling and distrust between law enforcement and community members.
“We don't want to be afraid of police,” he said. “We want them to arrest criminals — not those returning home from work, or a housewife who is then deported, leaving families unprotected here in the U.S.”
Everardo Sanchez of Summit County spoke about the importance of immigrants to the Colorado ski industry.
“They depend on our work as much as we depend on the jobs,” Sanchez said.
Harris' family has farmed in the Grand Valley since 1958. He moved his seed production business out of state six years ago when current law contributed to labor shortages.
What really bothered him, Harris said, was when a particular Mesa County politician, while walking into a field of vegetables, said if he was elected he would defend the valley's rural agricultural values.
“I couldn't help but think that with the (anti-immigrant) legislation he and his associates were working on in Denver, there wouldn't be any vegetables to pick,” Harris said.
The hard, physical labor of farm work is a skill you learn, Harris said.
“Most unemployed today are not going to jump at the opportunity to come out and do hard farm work.” Harris said. “Many of them are unable to do these kinds of jobs.”
Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.
Three-thousand signed postcards collected in the Grand Valley, and another 3,000 signed petitions from mountain and rural communities on the Western Slope were hand-delivered to Jerry Otero, who represented Sen. Michael Bennet at the rally. The petitions ask for the passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation this year.
Following the rally, dozens of demonstrators walked across the street to deliver signatures to Rep. John Salazar's office asking him to support comprehensive immigration reform as well.
“There are incongruities in our society between our laws and our morals,” said speaker Stephanie Soto of Grand Junction. “Today, we show our representatives that immigration reform can't wait.”
On the same day Coloradoans were rallying, faith leaders from around the country delivered hundreds of thousands of postcards to members of Congress in Washington, D.C.
While there are piecemeal measures in place that address the “broken immigration system,” it is “comprehensive” reform that is needed, said Karen Sherman Perez of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Comprehensive immigration reform would include such principles as “improving the economic situation of all workers in the United States; reforming visa programs to keep families together; protecting workers' rights; and ensuring that future immigration is regulated and controlled rather than illegal and chaotic,” according to Rich Stolz of Reform Immigration FOR America.
The issue of family unity was mentioned often at Wednesday's rally.
“Families are torn apart on a daily basis across Colorado,” when a family member, often a parent, is detained or deported, Sherman Perez said.
Local farmer Mark Harris spoke about his experience hiring immigrant farm workers over the years. Harris, who owns Grand Valley Hybrids and Grand Valley Farms, said he began speaking out for reform after witnessing what he said was unfair policy toward immigrants.
“We didn't want to turn our backs on those who literally put food on our tables,” Harris said. “What began as a moral issue became an economic issue.”
Current law ignores economic reality, Harris said.
“Immigrant labor is important for the continued success for thousands of small businesses in Colorado and the United States,” Harris said.
Eighty percent of farm labor is foreign-born, and half of that is unauthorized, Harris said.
Jose Manuel Camacho of the United Farmers of Telluride said comprehensive immigration reform is needed to stop racial profiling and distrust between law enforcement and community members.
“We don't want to be afraid of police,” he said. “We want them to arrest criminals — not those returning home from work, or a housewife who is then deported, leaving families unprotected here in the U.S.”
Everardo Sanchez of Summit County spoke about the importance of immigrants to the Colorado ski industry.
“They depend on our work as much as we depend on the jobs,” Sanchez said.
Harris' family has farmed in the Grand Valley since 1958. He moved his seed production business out of state six years ago when current law contributed to labor shortages.
What really bothered him, Harris said, was when a particular Mesa County politician, while walking into a field of vegetables, said if he was elected he would defend the valley's rural agricultural values.
“I couldn't help but think that with the (anti-immigrant) legislation he and his associates were working on in Denver, there wouldn't be any vegetables to pick,” Harris said.
The hard, physical labor of farm work is a skill you learn, Harris said.
“Most unemployed today are not going to jump at the opportunity to come out and do hard farm work.” Harris said. “Many of them are unable to do these kinds of jobs.”
Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.
