A day of protest by immigrants

I drove by the immigration protesters in Santa Ana today on the way to the Santa Ana Housing & Redevelopment Commission. Little did I know that Red County/OC Blog’s Jubal/Matt Cunningham was there earlier in the day.

He made the contention earlier in the week that students involved in the protests would be truants – even though he himself referenced that the protest time would be 3 p.m. How many students are still in school at that time? Do the kids in the photo on the left look like truants?

Jubal reported that Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido showed up to the protest. Amazing. I guess he finally figured out that as our Mayor he ought to show up to such events. Of course he brought his stormtroopers (see picture on the right – and the picture of a Star Wars stormtrooper carrier below, on the right, for comparison’s sake). Jubal also reported that Santa Ana Council Members Michele Martinez, David Benavides and Vince Sarmiento were in attendance.

Jubal estimated that there were as many as 700 protesters there when he was at the protest. I could not see how many were there at 5:30 p.m., when I passed through the area, but there were quite a few people still engaged in the protest. The O.C. Register reported that 1,500 people showed up in Santa Ana.

I searched the news media for information about the protests and found several good quotes, as follows, from an article written by the Associated Press:

Oakland: “It’s sad to see little kids cry, that’s why we are here. … Everybody here is ready to do this again until they listen to us.” Jose Flores, 43, a Guatemalan immigrant who has become a U.S. citizen.
Los Angeles: “We just want to work. We are people, not animals.” Victor Vargas, 23, an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Chicago: “Us immigrants aren’t pieces of trash, we’re human beings.” Melissa Woo, a 22-year-old American citizen who immigrated from South Korea.
Salem, Ore.: “Last year, they said they were going to do something, but nothing happened.” Luis Diaz, 45, an immigrant from Guatemala.
Indianapolis: “The other kids don’t respect us because we are immigrants.” Brenda Barradas, a 15-year-old student who was born in Mexico and is a lega
l resident.

Total Buzz reported that 40 Minutemen showed up this morning to protest the pro-immigration protesters. They quoted one of the Minutemen, “I just wanted to let people know there is another side because all you’re going to see on the news tonight is the pro-illegal immigration side,” said Donna Piscopo, 45, of Huntington Beach.”

I liked the other quote from Total Buzz, “I am not asking for anything from the government. All I want is for them to let me work with pleasure,” said Cruz, a Mexican citizen and father of three.”

KNX AM News Radio also covered the protests: “In Los Angeles, where May 1 protests in 2006 brought out several hundred thousand at various activities, about 25,000 came out for a downtown rally, said police Capt. Andrew Smith, incident commander for the march. A second rally was expected Tuesday evening. In Chicago, where over 400,000 swarmed the streets a year earlier, police officials put estimates at about 150,000, by far the country’s largest turnout.”

Now that the U.S. Congress is firmly in the hands of the Democrats, perhaps we will finally see some change coming from D.C. I would love to see green cards issued to those who have been working here for more than five years without committing any criminal acts. That way they could at least start paying taxes, buying homes, etc.

UPDATE:

Total Buzz reported that Santa Ana Council Member Sal Tinajero also showed up to the protest, after he got out of work (he is a teacher). They also added that Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido was not at the protests last year because he was in Mexico. Talk about taking a wrong turn! All this time I thought he didn’t show up because he was at home, hiding from the masses. He had this to say about immigration reform and the council members’ decision to attend the rally, “I think this is very significant because through our presence we’re endorsing and encouraging resolution of this.”

Also, Jubal added more pictures to one of his stories about the protest. He seemed giddy at the sight of the Santa Ana Stormtroopers. The caption that accompanied the picture that is above, of the suddenly mounted police, reads in part, “Mounted police, ready for action.” He must have left disappointed since no immigrants were beaten.

I found a picture of a mounted Star Wars Stormtrooper to go along with Jubal’s picture of the mounted SAPD troopers. Life imitating fiction – again.


About Admin

"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.