The Bolingbrook Sun
May 7th, 2010

The situation in Arizona and recent rallies in the area have put the spotlight directly on the issue of immigration.

Bolingbrook residents took part in May 1 rallies in Aurora and Naperville. In fact, one of the organizations sponsoring the Day of the Immigrant rally in Naperville was St. Dominic Catholic Church in Bolingbrook.

"Alto a la separacion de nuestras familias," read the sign carried by dozens of rally attendees at Naperville's Central Park. It translates to "Stop the separation of our families."

» Click to enlarge image
Two-year-old Alexander Flores of Bolingbrook sits on his father's shoulders during the Day of the Immigrant rally May 1 in Naperville. Tyler Stoffel / For The Sun

A crowd of immigrants and their supporters snaked around the block.

"Today is a celebration of how immigrants make our society so rich," said Sheena Kauzlarich, an organizer of the event from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "The message today is we celebrate our immigrant neighbors. Immigrants contribute to our communities in a lot of ways, and we're here to demonstrate that today."

Some, however, were not happy about the rallies. At the Aurora rally, a handful of anti-illegal immigration demonstrators made their feelings known. Don Sadler of Aurora summed up his point of view succinctly: "Illegal is illegal."

"When they come here illegally, they can't do anything else legal," said fellow protester, Sam Carson, waving a large American flag. "They have to steal ID, they steal Social Security numbers, they drive illegally. I have no problem with people coming here legally, but if you come here illegally, everything after that is illegal."

Both men said they would like to see Arizona's law adopted by all 50 states.

"Somebody's got to be against this," Sadler said, gesturing at the march. "It's not right."

About 300 people showed up for the march and rally in Naperville, which was followed by a reception at the United Methodist Church.

Bolingbrook resident the Rev. Walter Bohorquez spoke at the rally. The longtime legal citizen of the United States shared his story about his possible deportation back to Colombia, based on a non-violent crime that he committed and served jail time for two decades ago.

Kauzlarich said that Bolingbrook's population was well represented at the event. Kauzlarich helped to coordinate the event, along with area church groups and other organizations including the Bolingbrook-based 13th Congressional District team for immigration. The grass-roots group which meets weekly at St. Dominic Church in Bolingbrook is composed of area residents concerned about immigration issues and immigrant rights.

Kauzlarich said that part of the reason for planning a suburban event during the same time as other large rallies in the area was to clear up the impression some have that immigration issues are just "urban" issues.

"There's a huge immigrant population in the suburbs," she said. "It's important that people in these communities realize how diverse we really are, in order to understand and respect the contribution of our immigrant neighbors."

Jose Vera of Bolingbrook is a member of the Intervarsity Coalition for Equality, a local group of university students "wishing to speak out on immigrant issues." Having helped to plan and promote the event, Vera said he wants to keep immigration reform on the radar of U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert.

"We want her to understand the cause. We want to move her to do something in her district. These are issues that affect her constituents. We want comprehensive immigration reform," he said.

Kauzlarich explained the message that she and her groups are trying to share.

"We are not in favor of amnesty. That's a common misconception," she said. "There are people interested in that, but it's not what our coalition or our group is advocating for. Right now it's a broken system, and it takes years and years for people to come here legally. People have no choice but to come illegally. We want to expedite the system for people."

What her groups are hoping for, she said, is reform that would permit undocumented immigrants to pay their required fines, learn English, pass background checks, and then have the opportunity to get to the back of the line to apply for legal citizenship.

"We're wanting legal pathways to citizenship," Vera said.

Kauzlarich said that additionally, something needs to be done about the estimated 12 million undocumented people who are already here.

"It's not sensible to deport them. It would ruin our community, break up families and be too expensive," she said.

"There's a lot of families being separated for just not being legal in this country," said Ivan Perez, a 15-year-old resident of Bolingbrook whose family came to the Naperville march. "But we're all equal."

The day's march, rally and reception concluded with some coordinated service projects in the area. Vera said that was a highlight.

"We did various things throughout the community. We wanted to tell the community that immigrants are not leeches," Vera said. "Immigrants want to love their community and want to contribute to their community."

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