Students join local protests

By Allison Sundaram

SAN JOSE -- For Mayra Magana, immigration is more than just a political issue.

Magana and her sister saw the first-hand effects immigration laws can have on families: Her father, who used to be undocumented, had to return home to Mexico many years ago, but was eventually able to come back legally.

Magana is one of many citizens here who are either first-generation Americans or know some of the millions of undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.

University students, including Magana, joined with tens of thousands of marchers in downtown San Jose as part of the April 10 National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice. And MeCHA, the Chicano-Latino student organization, organized a protest on campus Friday.

Hundreds of thousands have protested nationwide against proposed immigration reforms in Congress, which include proposals that would make illegal immigrants felons. Last week, a compromise measure failed in the Senate.

In a sea of American and Mexican flags, many marchers dressed in white and brought their families out under the uncertain weather. Approximately 30 Santa Clara students, including those from the Multicultural Center organizations, the Santa Clara Community Action Program and Campus Ministry, joined the San Jose protest, marching from East San Jose to San Jose City Hall.

"I feel it's very important to have a Santa Clara University student presence at this march," senior Audrey Kim said, "particularly because people are assuming that the people who are involved in the march are just illegal immigrants that are just concerned for their own self-interest that don't really affect the rest of the country."

Students attended the march for a variety of reasons. Some were the children of immigrants, and others were immigrants themselves.

Three marchers had attended a recent immersion trip to Nogales, Mexico, a border town near Tucson, Ariz., that has a large migrant worker population.

"I went on an immersion trip to Nogales on spring break, and I was so moved by the plight of migrants and what they're going through," freshman Grace Nixon said. "I just feel that the U.S.'s policies right now really aren't working and they need to be drastically adjusted."

Freshman Mayra Contreras marched to prove a point about student involvement. "We're trying to say that students do care, but also making a point not to skip school. Most of us already have classes, and most of us are doing this on our free time, not just for skipping classes. I think it's important to come out."

Although the San Jose rally had been previously discussed as including immigrants from other communities, the Monday march was predominately Latino. The vocal crowd yelled slogans, such as, "Si, se puede" (which means "Yes, we can") for the entire 3 ½-mile march.

Students gathered under a similarly cloudy sky Friday for MeCHA's protest on recent immigration bills, and to raise awareness onà campus about immigrants' rights.

"I think that there needs to be more conversations, because it affects everyone, and maybe people are in classrooms and don't talk about it except in ethnic studies and whatnot," MeCHA co-chair Elizabeth Sandoval said.

"So I think that if we bring it here to Santa Clara then there will be more talk about it," she said.

Students held signs in English and Spanish in front of the Multicultural Center. The protest was held in solidarity with immigrant rights, and served as a teaser for the Monday rally in San Jose.

Rally leaders Sandoval and Pablo Madriz emphasized the widespread impact of immigration, and that everyone knows or has helped immigrants, or are even immigrants themselves. "Do we want to be called criminals for helping out an immigrant?" Madriz asked.

Contact Allison Sundaram at (408) 554-4546 or asundaram@scu.edu.