Presbyterians in Rally for Justice with Immigrants

Immigrants for justice Last Saturday, April 1st, the Brooklyn Bridge and the surrounding area of the Court House Building in Downtown Manhattan were finessed by thousands of demonstrators who marched in favor of the legalization of undocumented immigrants (12 million) and in rejection to the law HR4437 that criminalizes undocumented immigrants and all those who offer aid to them.
For this reason, many religious organizations have shown their rejection to this proposal (approved by the House of Representatives in December of 2005).

Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana of Paterson is a member of the Presbytery of the Palisades. It was one of many religious organizations who participated in this rally. A group of 20 members of this church marched with a great banner that said: "DO NOT OPPRESS FOREIGNERS", remembering the text of Zechariah 7:10. According to Rev. Lilia Ramirez, pastor of the church, "we are participating in this rally because we think that this law is against our mission as a church. We are called to love our neighbor and to help them, without any race, creed, sex or legal status distinction. We as Christians should not permit to be labeled as criminals when we are called to help our neighbors, nor can we allow that those who come to work hard to live in dignity be called criminals".

The majority of immigrants who come to work hard and be exploited by the legal companies and corporations, agree to come and stay in United States in a legal way if they have the opportunity to do so, but the restrictions in the current immigration laws make the legal entrance impossible (especially for immigrants from poor countries). In addition, the economic globalization (with agreements like NAFTA), political conflicts, privatization of public companies, corruption and the external debt of poor countries have produced an increase of immigration in the last decade.

Although it is difficult to know how many people marched in New York, the Anglo mass media (CNN, Fox, etc...) reported that there were 10 thousand people. On the other hand, Spanish media (Univision, Telemundo, etc...) emphasized the participation of more than 100 thousand people. The only certainty is that it has been the largest demonstration related to immigrant issues in the history of New York City.
With slogans like: "we love the United States", "we pay taxes too", "we are not criminals", " immigrants deserve equal human rights" and "yes, we can", millions of immigrants continue with pacifist struggle around the country to find a human and right law. On April 10th will be the National Rally and people will be marching in New York, New Jersey and other states.