Flu overshadows rally for reforms

Utah Hispanics called on the U.S. government to begin working toward comprehensive immigration reform, during a rally in Salt Lake City Friday that inadvertently drew attention to the swine-flu outbreak.

As they marched through Liberty Park, hundreds chanted "Si se puede! Si se puede!"

"Our system is broken," said Tony Yapias, of Proyecto Latino de Utah. "We need to do something about it. The sooner we deal with it, the better it will be for everybody."

The event was one of several May Day rallies held across the country.

Many immigrants expressed hope that the Obama administration might lead the country toward reform after years of "forgetting about the issue." The election, the economy and the war have all put immigration on the backburner, Yapias said.

"When is the right time?" he asked Friday. "If not now, when?"

With SB81 set to take effect in July, Hispanics said action is needed now.

"It's starting to get worse," said Edwin Chacon, one of a handful of young Latinos who carried Mexican and American flags during the rally. "They look at us and they want to pull us over."

"I want to be equal," said a man who called himself Guerro Loco. "Just like you."

For many immigrants, their undocumented status has put them in a strange spot; they were children when they were brought to America and now feel like they're without a home.

"Where do we belong?" a young girl named Elisa asked.

For Jose, who came to the United States more than 30 years ago, the problem is the same.

"I don't know Mexico," he said. "I am proud of Mexico, but I was raised here."

Those are the sentiments University of Utah student Tim Peterson said he saw during the two years he spent in Indiana serving a Spanish-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"They've got a patriotic spirit that we never seem to give them credit for," he said.

Turnout at Friday's rally was smaller than some had hoped, and Yapias blamed it on fear surrounding the current swine-flu outbreak.

Across the street, protesters from the Utah Minuteman Project wore surgical masks and waived signs calling for tighter border controls.

"Swine flu shut down Park City schools — Why not our BORDERS?" one sign read.

Yapias hoped the federal government would hear his call for reform, namely a guest-worker program with a path to citizenship.

"We're looking for immigration reform that deals with the people here," he said. "We don't want a blanket amnesty."

Such changes would boost the economy, he said, raising wages for immigrants who often take jobs that pay below the minimum wage.

"We all have families," said Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon. "We all work. We all have businesses, and we should all be together, working together" for reform.

E-mail: afalk@desnews.com