Thousands of people decked out in white shirts and waving American flags rallied across Colorado on Monday as part of a nationwide call for reforming U.S. immigration laws.
In Grand Junction, police and organizers estimated the size of the crowd at about 3,000 people; an impromptu gathering in Denver drew more than a thousand; Colorado Springs police put the figure there at more than 750; and a rally in Boulder drew about 200.
Estrella Ruiz came with several family members to the Western Slope rally from the riverside community in Grand Junction where she has lived since she was 2. She is 21 now and said she came out to march because she has a dream of going to law school.
She carried a sign reading, “My parents are not criminals.”
In paint-splattered pants and work boots, Victor Gomez, 38, surveyed the crowd in Denver’s Civic Center. Gomez has been in the U.S. for five years and says there is plenty of work for whoever looks for it.
“The government knows they need workers, but they don’t want to accept them,” he said.
Claudia Fitzpatrick, 31, came to the U.S. from Mexico six years ago as an exchange student and married an American.
“I try to understand the other side, but the reality is, we are here. And we do help the economy of the country, and it is better to have help legally than illegally,” she said Monday in Colorado Springs.
Immigration-rights activists organized demonstrations across the U.S. on Monday to show support for national policy changes that do not include building a wall on the southern border or, as called for in one plan in Congress, elevate being in the country without proper documentation from a civil violation to a felony.
The Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington, D.C.-based research group, estimates there are between 200,000 and 250,000 undocumented immigrants in Colorado and nearly 12 million nationwide.
At a Monday luncheon sponsored by the Denver Athletic Club and the Denver Press Club, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo said that the street demonstrations “do not represent the majority opinion in this country.”
In Grand Junction, Rifle first- grader David Trivezo smiled shyly as he stood at the head of a column of more than 3,100 people and clung to a banner reading, “We March for a Better Future.”
Also holding the banner were housekeeper Fatima Miramontis and framer Osvaldo Martinez, who both took off work and drove from Rifle.
“It’s about time to start working on this issue, no?” said Martinez.
The trio led a peaceful march that moved along busy North Avenue past five Mexican restaurants, a Mexican butcher shop, a mobile taco stand and El Amigo, a store that cashes checks and wires money to Mexico. They chanted, “Si se puede” – “Yes, we can” – and, “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” – “People united will never be defeated.”
The marchers were drawn from 22 Colorado communities, organizers said.
Only a handful of Mexican flags were in evidence, and most were worn like shawls rather than hoisted overhead in the line of walkers that stretched for more than a mile.
Organizers said they originally had thought they might have 500 marchers turn out and were awed by the numbers.
In downtown Colorado Springs, nearly 1,000 people gathered at midday Monday on the lawn outside the Pioneer’s Museum. Construction workers came in pickups, soldiers came in their camouflage and women came packing babies in strollers.
Men in orange vests stood at the perimeter of the crowd and asked fellow supporters not to show their Mexican flags.
Spec. Omar Cante, 26, a Mexican citizen who has resident status in the U.S. and serves in the Army, said he supports legalization for immigrants. He said he came to this country with his family for the same reason most immigrants come: “Better opportunities. Just like everybody, they’re here for their children, they come for a better life, a better chance at life.”
Jesse Gonzalez, 40, of Chicago, who was visiting with his family, said: “It’s good to see people unite for a change and try to do something the legal way and the peaceful way.”
Gonzalez said one of the things that put him off about Colorado, however, is outspoken congressman Tancredo. The Littleton Republican has come to national prominence for his stance on illegal immigration.
Tancredo said he was surprised but happy to see illegal immigration, his top priority, become a subject of intense national debate.
Tancredo said he isn’t sure that any reforms will make it out of Congress this year, adding: “I’d rather have no legislation than a bill that includes amnesty.”
Several blocks away, students from high schools across the Front Range led more than 1,000 marchers in support of immigrant rights. Many received text messages on their cellphones alerting them of the impromptu rally.
A daytime event was not publicized for Denver, but representatives of Service Employees International Union Local 105 obtained a permit to rally in Civic Center, just in case.
“People want to be heard,” said Jennifer Herrera, of Dignity through Dialogue and Education. “They’ve been silent and hidden for so long, it’s liberating to come out of the shadows and let people know they are here, to know that people are not seeing through them anymore.”
For 10 years one woman has worked in a factory under a Social Security number that is not her own. It’s not fair, she said, that she has worked hard for a decade in a country that wants her hands to work quickly but does not respect her right to live peacefully and without fear.
Most of the marchers in Boulder were University of Colorado students who said the legislation that would turn illegal immigrants into felons was racist.
“They are legislating out of fear of Mexicans,” said Federico Rangel, who is getting his teaching degree. “If we didn’t have migrants, this country wouldn’t survive.”
Staff writers Jim Hughes and Monte Whaley contributed to this report.
