Local News in Brief : Immigrant Backers Completing Fast

Nearly 2,000 church members and immigrant advocates in Los Angeles are completing a weeklong fast to protest the second anniversary of the Nov. 6, 1986, passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act.

The fast, which began at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church last Sunday, was undertaken “to protest the employer sanctions that violate the basic human right to work,” said Father Gregory Boyle, pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights.

Those participating in the fast are refusing solid food for periods ranging from a day to a week, Boyle said. Among the groups endorsing the fast are the Southern California Interfaith Taskforce on Central America, Epiphany Episcopal Church, the Central American Refugee Center and the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles.

Events in the weeklong protest include evening prayer sessions, the distribution of educational pamphlets to day laborers and street theater in front of the Federal Building downtown at noon today.