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Immigrant children say: 'Stop taking our dads!'

Published Jun 22, 2007 11:59 PM

In Painesville, Ohio, June 16, Father’s Day was honored with love, tears and a courageous march and rally of several hundred immigrants and their supporters. They were protesting the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that resulted in 43 arrests and deportations, mainly of Latino workers.


Immigrants give new meaning to
Father’s Day.
WW photo: Martha Grevatt

The children of jailed or deported men carried a banner at the front of the march, proclaiming, “Stop Taking Our Dads!”

The march was a sea of the red flags of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, emblazoned with the slogan, “¡Hasta la Victoria!” (Until Victory)

Many people held signs with photos of their now-absent fathers, with heartfelt expressions such as, “My father is the soul of my family.”

March participants traveled from Toledo, Youngstown, Cleveland, Columbus and as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio. Event organizer Victoria Dahlberg, executive director of Hispanas Organizadas de Lake y Ashtabula, expressed regret that there were not more Painesville residents in attendance, but acknowledged the fear that kept them away.

There were delegations from Oberlin College; the Ashtabula County AFL-CIO; and the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ, an African-American church in Ashtabula, among others.

Baldemar Velasquez, founder and president of FLOC, declared: “We are Mestizos, Native and Indigenous, with some Spanish ancestry. We have been here in the Americas. We did not immigrate. The European-Americans are the immigrants.”

After Velasquez spoke, a woman emerged from the crowd and tearfully took the bullhorn. Her father had been on his way to work when ICE agents stopped the van he was in. He and others were arrested. Now he is in jail in Youngstown.

She had been told that she would have to come up with $5,000 before anyone could even start working on his case. She didn’t know what to do. A baseball cap was placed on the ground in front of the speakers and it was soon buried under a mound of cash. Over $500 was collected.

The raides are targeting children as well. Two sisters, aged 12 and 9, spoke of being awakened in the pre-dawn hours by ICE agents. They were required to report with their younger brother to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Cleveland.

Dahlberg commented sarcastically, “What a wonderful use of our tax dollars.” The girls’ mother stood by them as they bravely spoke out, wiping tears from her face. The government agencies are the real terrorists.

United Church of Christ pastor Nozomi Ikuta Watson spoke of the experiences of her Japanese grandparents who were not allowed to become citizens. She said the immigrant struggle raises “broad issues of justice.”

The Rev. Steve Sargent from the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ pledged to march with the immigrant community “until the immigration laws are just and fair.” As he spoke of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and of Cesar Chavez, the crowd applauded. Rev. Sargent declared, “Your struggle is our struggle,” to help express working-class unity.

The march eventually returned to its starting point, Kiwanis Recreational Park, silent by deliberate choice. But upon their arrival, marchers broke into shouts of, “¡Sí, se Puede!” (Yes, we can!)