Latinos Rally in Utah: It’s About More Than Immigration
It’s about giving a form and a face to an issue and standing up to what Latinos know is behind the politics of immigration. In Utah they’ve been moved to act. They’ve rallied at the state capitol against Representative Stephen Sandstrom’s anti-illegal immigration legislation that breezed through Utah’s house of representatives, and they’ve vowed to continue their rallies until the bill is squashed.
One of the Utah activists, Mike Picardi, put it this way on abc4.com:
“We believe the Latino people are being used as pawns to advance some of the political people on the hill.”
Amen to that.
We’ve all known that immigration has been used as a political wedge for many years, and that in the process Latino’s have been maligned and vilified. Latino’s in Utah have had enough. And they’ve been inspired
by what we see happening in the Middle East. The youth is rising up, and I’m happy to be a part of it,” says (activist Diego) Ibanez.
But they’re also proposing a solution, an alternative to Sandstrom’s bill. It’s called the Utah compact.
An alternative suggestion to how to implement a statewide immigration policy that would not criminalize Hispanics, or tear apart families, but some activists say, as a state, Utah shouldn’t even have to go that far. “It’s the federal government’s purview to deal with immigration. We don’t believe it’s a problem in Utah. It’s just political posturing,” says Picardi.
The Latino activists have set up laptops and are asking voters to sign the compact. Which is a hell of a lot better than sitting around and complaining.
Here’s a TV news report on the issue and the activists from abc.4, in Salt Lake City:
[Photo by TheManfromUtah]Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda
