Immigration Activists Frustrated By Pace Of Reform

by NPR STAFF AND WIRES
March 19, 2010 President Obama promised to make overhauling the immigration system a top priority in his first year as president. He's now in Year Two, and the odds that he'll get to sign a bill before the November midterm elections appear long.

Grass-roots activists are frustrated by the wait for a new system. Thousands of people are scheduled to swarm into Washington, D.C., this weekend to rally for an overhaul of immigration laws.

For activists like Alicia Contreras, a student social worker from Arizona, reform means a path to citizenship for the 10 million or so undocumented people living in the United States. She said she works part-time to keep at-risk kids out of gangs and off drugs, and that many of those kids are from illegal-immigrant families.

"I want them to go to college. I want them to work for themselves," Contreras told NPR as she headed to Washington. "And they tell me … 'You don
live my life. You don't feel what I do. You don't have the world of cannots and do nots.'"

Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce defends Arizona's reputation as one of the most unwelcoming spots for undocumented workers in the U.S. He says those headed to the nation's capital are promoting anarchy.

"These folks who march with no respect for the law, have no regard for the victims of crime and the damage and cost to America," Pearce said. "Shame on them. Shame on them! They're as treasonous and as un-American as anyone I know."

For their part, many marchers say they're just trying to reach consensus on this inflammatory issue. http://http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124886353