Religious and labor leaders joined some 4,000 people who marched through the streets of Sacramento Sept. 17, calling for amnesty for the estimated 6 million workers without documentation in the United States.

“We are here because someone welcomed us, offered us a hand when we arrived in this country,” said Sacramento’s Auxiliary Bishop Richard Garcia, who joined marchers carrying American flags and colorful signs from Southside Park, down the Capitol Mall to the steps of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

At an afternoon rally which kicked off the march, the bishop said, “We know that many of our sisters and our brothers are here from many different countries and yet they do not feel at home. They do not yet have their documents. They do not feel secure to live in our midst—in our cities or in our migrant camps. That’s why were here to unite and to march in a spirit of common solidarity and support.”

“It’s time to open doors, rather than build up walls,” added Father Juan Manuel Ponce, parochial vicar of St. Joseph/St. Teresa of Avila Church in Auburn.

The rally and march were organized primarily by the Sacramento Valley Organizing Community (SVOC), a local coalition of about 35 Latino and African American churches. Leaders of the local labor and legal communities also offered their support.

As marchers passed the Immigration and Naturalization Service Offices on the Capitol Mall, they left photos of people who have applied for residency or citizenship.

Earlier this year, the U.S. bishops joined with the AFL-CIO in calling for serious consideration of “a general amnesty for those workers who come to the U.S. fleeing oppression and destitution and who make significant contributions to our society.”

Members of many local Catholic parishes and other faiths who belong to the SVOC have been working with local labor groups since that time to build a strong coalition in support of total amnesty for all undocumented workers in the United States.

More than 3,000 people have participated in 15 community meetings in the past 10 months about a general amnesty, organized by the SVOC, the Sacramento Labor Council and the Hispanic Apostolate of the Diocese of Sacramento.

SVOC leaders say they are also working to speed up the residency application process at the INS and to create an affordable immigration program for low-income families.

Some immigrant-rights activists acknowledge that a general amnesty is unlikely to be granted soon. There are several measures pending in Congress, however, that seek to grant limited amnesty.

A coalition of business, religious, union, ethnic and immigrant groups rallied in Washington, D.C. Sept. 13 to draw support for the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act, which would address three separate immigration issues.

It would allow undocumented residents who have lived in the United States since 1986 to seek legal residency; would restore a provision of law that had allowed certain applicants for legalization to remain in the United States while their applications are processed; and allow people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras the opportunity to apply for refugee status.

Congress previously extended to Nicaraguans and Cubans the chance to be admitted as refugees, but excluded applicants from their neighboring countries who also fled civil wars.

In addition to the Fairness Act, the U.S. bishops are in support of a bill to permanently extend a religious workers visa program and against a proposal to bring in new agricultural guest workers.

Some information for this article was provided by Catholic News Service.

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