Marchers salute Chavez, push for reform
DREAM Act would give young immigrants path to citizenship
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Fifth-grader Katherine Hoffman paints a tiny maraca Friday during the sixth annual Lafayette César Chávez Celebration. Lewis Geyer/Times-Call
LAFAYETTE — Dozens of people marched 8 miles from Boulder to Lafayette on Friday to honor César Chávez and support immigration reform.
Chávez, who was born March 31, 1927, founded the United Farm Workers union. In 1966, he led a 340-mile march from Delano, Calif., to Sacramento to urge lawmakers to allow farm workers to organize.
In Boulder County, students called for politicians to create an easier path to citizenship and to pass the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors) Act.
The DREAM Act would allow students who entered the U.S. before they were 16 years old, lived in the U.S. for more than five consecutive years and graduated from high school to pay in-state tuition for college. They also could apply for permanent residency and citizenship after 5 1/2 years.
The current requirements for citizenship, which include returning to one’s birth country for 10 years, loom large for students such as Ana, a Louisville resident who spoke at Festival Plaza.
Ana graduated from Centaurus High School in 2006 and attends Regis University, where she studies accounting and international business.
“Unless I go back to where I was born, I don’t have any opportunity here,” said Ana, who was born in Mexico.
Andrea Andrade, a 15-year-old from Lafayette, spoke at Pioneer Elementary School about the test required for citizenship.
Most U.S. residents could not pass the test required for citizenship, Andrea said. Instead of the exam, she suggested the government require community service or a history class.
An 18-year-old Longmont man, who wanted to be identified as Junior A, said immigration issues threaten to tear apart his family, even though his father has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years.
“If he gets deported, my family would split up,” said Junior A, who has lived in Longmont since he was 9 years old and lived in Platteville before that. He likely would have to live with an aunt in Dallas, he said, while his younger siblings would move in with their godparents.
Victoria Camron can be reached at 303-684-5226 or vcamron@times-call.com.