Posted: Mar. 22, 2009
MaryJo Walicki
Religious leaders offer a blessing to U.S. Rep. Luis utierrez (left) after he spoke Sunday about deportation at St. Adalbert's Catholic Church. Standing next to him is Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee.
Rosa Bautista broke into tears as she told a standing-room-only crowd of nearly 1,000 who filled St. Adalbert's Catholic Church on Sunday afternoon about how the father of her four children had been deported to Mexico City.
She's a U.S. citizen, and her children are, too, but the day before Good Friday last year, the man in their lives was deported, she said. He had been here nine years and worked as a roofer, Bautista said.
"I ask you, if you were in my shoes, would you like to see your family separated as we are?" she asked the crowd.
Edward Ike of Nigeria told of how he and his wife could bring only two of their four children with them because their U.S. sponsor couldn't afford the other two. That was in 2003. The 6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter they left
The stories were part of a "Families United" rally and prayer service sponsored by the Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope and Jewish and Muslim leaders.
Milwaukee is the 12th stop in five-week, 20-city listening tour led by U.S. Rep Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who said he wants others to hear the stories of what's happening to families and to influence President Barack Obama to bring about comprehensive immigration reform.
Two protesters stood outside the church. Nate Beck carried a sign that read, "No Amnesty. Stop Illegal Immigration. Enforce the law." Next to him, Jason Vaught waved an American flag.
"They want to change the laws, but they need to enforce the laws," Beck said. He said his wife, who is from Laos, had waited in a refugee camp before entering the country legally, and others should do the same.
At a similar gathering Saturday at a Catholic church in Chicago, Gutierrez said Cardinal Francis George called on the Obama administration to stop workplace immigration raids and deportations and to push for passage of immigration reform "that is fair and compassionate."
In San Francisco, he said, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended and called the raids and deportations "un-American."
"One voice and one leader at a time, we will build and build to get immigration reform," Gutierrez told the crowd at St. Adalbert's, 1923 W. Becher St.
The listening tour is sponsored by faith groups and held in church sanctuaries because "churches are the places where immigrants are welcomed, cherished and defended," he said.
Gutierrez said an estimated 5 million children who are U.S. citizens have a parent who has been deported, is awaiting deportation or is threatened by deportation.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, also attended the St. Adalbert's event and lent her support to efforts to overhaul the immigration system.
"The centerpiece of that has to focus on family reunification," she said.
Last week, Gutierrez and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with Obama on immigration reform.
