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Immigration Reform Rally

By Andy Hart

April 11, 2013

Hartford joined several cities across the country in a series of rallies on Wednesday for immigration reform. The largest rally was held in Washington D.C., where senators are working to complete a proposed bill that would bring dramatic changes to the country’s immigration policies if passed. According to the Los Angeles Times, “The proposed legislation would provide a 10-year path to citizenship for the nearly 11 million people who have overstayed visas or entered the country illegally. The opportunity would only be available after U.S. borders have been secured to prevent nearly all illegal crossings, however.”

In Hartford, the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance (CIRA) led hundreds of chanting marchers from the Old State House to the State Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. CIRA?includes religious organizations, unions and immigrant advocacy groups, such as the Center for Latino Progress and the Asian Pacific American Affairs Com­mission.

At the pre-march rally at the Old State House, Yanil Teron, Executive Director of the Center for Latino Progress, called out the names of many of the various countries that the marchers had immigrated from to the United States, including Mexico, Peru, Jamaica, China, Trinidad-Tobago, Brazil, India and Chile. However, Teron said, “We are all one.”

CIRA?held several other rallies in Connecticut this week but it is believed that the one held in Hartford on Wednesday was the largest.