Immigration activists diversifying ranks

WASHINGTON — Beyond the noisy town hall meetings, Tea Party protests and sky-is-falling speeches characterizing much of the health-care debate is a less visible but no less intense push to broaden the face of the immigration reform movement.

With the 2010 election year looming, Democrat Barack Obama in the White House and increasing numbers of Asian-American and Pacific Islanders in Congress, many groups, including the NAACP, are working harder in the traditionally Latino-led movement, sensing a fresh opportunity to overhaul laws affecting millions of immigrants, both legal and illegal.

"For far too long, the Latino population in the U.S. has really borne the brunt of the anti-immigrant sentiment," said Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y. Washington NAACP bureau director Hillary Shelton said, "The immigration debate needs to have, in addition to a Latino face, it needs to have a Haitian face. It needs to have an Asian face."

Unquestionably, the immigration issue is a temperature's-rising matter; opinions are strong, in some cases ranging to demands to close the borders. And no small part of the renewed impetus for revamping the system are the increasing immigrant crackdowns.

Against this backdrop, the collection of voices clamoring for overhaul is expanding — Caribbean-Americans, evangelical churches, labor unions and law enforcement, besides the NAACP. And businesses, too, are becoming increasingly active.

"It's a Godsend," said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "We have been trying to make the argument, unsuccessfully in many respects, that immigration is not just a Latino issue because others are affected — Asians, Russians, Africans. ... At its core, this is about the future viability of this country."

The immigration reform movement hasn't been devoid of diversity over the years, however.

Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Christian and other churches and faiths have been active leaders. In 2006 and 2007, people wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Legalize The Irish" in green letters were common sights around the U.S. Capitol. Even immigration groups in Caribbean American communities have participated.

But because the overwhelming majority of immigrants are coming from Mexico and Latin America, the push for a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented has been led largely by Latinos. It was mostly Latino immigrants who turned out for the 2006 marches against immigration crackdowns, for instance. It was a massive showing, stoked in part by Spanish-language radio and television.