750 Protest Immigration Policies of United States

While revelers 2,500 miles away rejoiced in the spirit of the Statue of Liberty, about 750 marchers here chose the Fourth of July to protest immigration laws which they say unfairly discriminate against Central Americans and Asians.

Several of the dozen or so speakers at the rally referred to the hoopla surrounding the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in New York as a farce because the United States is inconsistent in its immigration policies and turns its back on non-European refugees.

“There is a reason the Statue of Liberty faces Europe and has its back to Asia and South America. We were never welcomed here,” said Bill Tamayo, chairman of the National Task Force for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, an activist group that sponsored Friday’s event, called a March for Justice and Freedom for All Immigrants and Refugees.

David Valladolid, who organized the rally, said, “We don’t have a Statue of Liberty here. We have a fence with barbed wire on it.

“The dreams and the ideals represented by the Statue of Liberty do not necessarily apply to new-wave immigrants. Justice, liberty and freedom should apply to all people, regardless of economic status.”

The rally included a three-mile march from Larson Field through the heart of San Ysidro to a footbridge crossing Interstate 5 near the international border crossing, where the walkers stopped to release balloons. The march was peaceful, although it added to congestion of already-busy traffic on San Ysidro Boulevard and side streets.

Children along the route thought the commotion was a festive Fourth of July parade and some began humming patriotic songs. Motorists honked horns but it was unclear whether they were showing support for the rally or their displeasure at getting caught in the traffic.

Organizers hoped to attract 2,500 or more participants, saying busloads of supporters were expected from as far away as Chicago and New York. None appeared, however, and neither did actor and liberal activist Ed Asner, who organizers had announced would participate in the day-long rally.

But the rally was spirited nonetheless and attracted a wide range of participants, including a large number of non-Latinos who said the issue went beyond just immigration laws directed at Mexicans.

Susan Abbott of San Diego said she attended the rally because “I believe in one world, one people.”

And James Conway, a San Diego attorney, said he was drawn to the march “to celebrate the real meaning of liberty--that people should be united, and borders should not separate people from their right to economic survival and justice. The Republic of Mexico, Baja California and Alta California are all one, and the border is an accident of history.”

David Paez identified himself as a Vietnam veteran who “feels it is necessary to make a statement. I don’t believe in everything I’ve heard here today, but the core issue is freedom, and that’s what I fought for in Vietnam. That’s what America’s all about, and what finer way is there to celebrate July Fourth?”

Among the speakers at the rally was the Rev. Douglas Regin, who heads the community services office of the Catholic diocese of San Diego and who said in his invocation:

“Help us this day as we try to promote that idea of unity, of being one family. Help us to promote true justice, not based only on law but based on the dignity of the person.”

Valladolid said the purpose of the rally was “to make the statement that we won’t accept the practices and the policies of the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), and allow San Diego to be the focal point where the fight against the undocumented is being waged. It’s important for political people to see that we will not let the violation of human rights continue here.

“Is this rally unpatriotic?” he asked rhetorically. “Is it unpatriotic to ask for freedom, justice, liberty?”

Tamayo repeatedly referred to the Statue of Liberty’s rededication as the backdrop to the rally’s theme, “Make her promise a reality.”

“When the statue was first dedicated, the Chinese Exclusionary Act had been passed and blacks couldn’t vote. Liberty was schizophrenic,” he said.

Vernon Bellecourt, vice chairman of the American Indian Movement, used the rally to criticize the nation’s fathers and forefathers. “It was those people who came here to seek liberty, and now they deny others those same rights,” he said. “They welcome dissidents from Poland but turn their backs on others. How can America continue this charade of talking of liberty and freedom?”

Marchers chanted such slogans as “We’re people united, we’ll never be defeated” and “Ronald Reagan, he’s no good; send him back to Hollywood.”

And speakers called for the defeat of the Simpson-Rodino immigration bill, endorsed by the Reagan Administration, which is intended to curb the flow of illegal aliens into the United States by imposing stiff penalties on those who knowingly hire them, while at the same time extending amnesty to millions already in the country.

“The bill assumes that immigrants take jobs away from citizens and cause unemployment,” complained Tamayo. “There’s an inherent contradiction in the bill because it won’t halt immigration. It will allow them to be exploited until they are caught, when they’ll just be deported.”

Not everyone along the march route was in full support of the marchers. Mike Marta, en route from Fountain Valley to Ensenada for three days of deep-sea fishing, who had stopped in San Ysidro for ice, said of the passing marchers, “Everybody’s entitled to their point of view, but if we didn’t have freedom in the first place, they wouldn’t even be allowed to do what they’re doing.”