Crowds numbering in the thousands marched down West Washington Avenue and converged on the Capitol in a mobilization for immigrant rights Monday. Madison was one of 94 cities to have demonstrations in response to recent government legislation reforming immigration laws.
The rally protested legislation recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, mandating stricter boarder control and harsher immigration laws. In addition, Wisconsin's Assembly Bill 69 and Senate Bill 567 garnered attention at the rally. These bills required proof of citizenship for drivers' licenses and limited access to public assistance programs for undocumented immigrants, respectively.
Madison resident and protestor Seth Jensen said he was demonstrating in hopes that we begin to value the labor that comes from undocumented immigrants.
Undocumented workers who come to the U.S. pay a lot of money into the tax system, put a lot of labor into our enterprises for which many of them are underpaid, but they don't get the benefits of Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid,\ Jensen said. ""They don't have access to that, and I think that's profoundly unjust.""
The majority of the crowd was composed of immigrants, but others participated in support of friends.
UW-Madison senior Eric Schechter, said he considered Monday's events an action rather than a protest.
""I see people who I trust and a lot of other friends here coming out together against something the dominant Republican Party has introduced,"" Schechter said.
Speaking at the rally, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said the leaders in Washington are ""moving backward"" with the immigration legislation recently passed and hopes everyone feels welcome in Madison.
Falk cited an ordinance created in Dane County as hopefully creating such a welcoming atmosphere. The ordinance prevents county workers from asking about the legal status of people they are serving, which erases immigrants' fear of asking for county assistance.
""One proposal before Congress now would outlaw this policy and make it a felony for those who assist immigrants, including government employees,"" Falk said.
Miguel Villaromas, a district manager for a cleaning company, said he hopes the demonstration makes people realize immigrants are just people and not criminals.
""We come here to make a better living,"" Villaromas said. ""People believe we don't pay taxes or we basically live at the expenses of the government, which is simply not true. We come here to work and make a better living. That's all we want.""
Andy Stott, a UW-Madison sophomore, opposed the demonstration and said a sign he saw which said ""Persecute ignorance, not immigrants"" is ignorant in and of itself.
""If I don't want illegal immigrants in the U.S., that doesn't necessarily mean I'm ignorant,"" Stott said.
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