Issue date: 5/2/06 Section: News

Members of the community for Latino Concerns and others marched across campus in conjunction with National May 1 protests against immenent immigration laws. The students changed "Si, se puede," Spanish for "Yes, you can!"

On Monday evening, a crowd of students marched through campus in white t-shirts, many of them chanting "Sí, se puede"-Spanish for "Yes, you can." This rally, sponsored by DePauw's Committee for Latino Concerns (CLC), occurred in conjunction with nationwide May Day protests against the federal bill, H.R. 4437, which proposes severe penalties for illegal immigrants.

But for these students, raising awareness on campus was just as important as protesting nationally.

"We've been talking about doing something about this since the week before spring break," said junior Isabel Campos, president of CLC. "It took us a while to get organized and figure out exactly what we want to do. Since it is such a huge issue, it is hard to generalize and say we all feel this way."

Campos said the group decided to focus on discussion rather than a consensus.

"The biggest thing we wanted to come across is learning-learning what other peoples opinions are," she said.

Campos, along with four other members of CLC, attended the April 10 immigration protest in Indianapolis, Ind. The state protest, which drew a crowd of nearly 20,000 according to reports by the Indianapolis Star, influenced the groups decision to sponsor one on campus. It also influenced students' message-"Sí, se puede" was chanted at the state rally last month.

Nationally

The bill, H.R. 4437 or The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, was passed by the House of Representatives on December 16, 2005. It is currently under review by the Senate.

Protests began as early as February 14, 2006, when 2,000 people gathered on Independence Mall in Philadelphia to rally against the legislation. From there, organizations like National Capital Immigrant Coalition, described as "a coalition of immigrant, labor, faith, civil rights and business community groups in the metro, Washington, D.C. area" on the group's web site, began planning national days of protest like the one on April 10: Day of Action, which took place in 102 cities across the country.

Continued...

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