‘Here with dignity.' Protesters march through Paso Robles to support immigrants
Carrying brightly-colored umbrellas and picket signs, a crowd of about 70 people braved the rain and marched through downtown Paso Robles on Sunday to protest deportation and show support for San Luis Obispo County's immigrant community.
'We are here with dignity. We are part of this community. We are not invisible,' Mixteco Indígenia Community Organizing Project executive director Arcenio Lopez told The Tribune at the march. 'It's time to come together with unity and create solidarity.'
Both verified and rumors of border patrol operations in California following President Donald Trump's election renewed fear of deportation in the San Luis Obispo County immigrant community.
Lopez urged local governments to pass policies to protect undocumented immigrants, such as a resolution directing local law enforcement to alert the community when immigration authorities plan to sweep the area.
In 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed not to search for or arrest undocumented immigrants in schools, churches, hospitals and marches. In January, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reversed this policy — making some afraid to access spaces that once felt safe.
In light of that, local governments should pass their own policy to protect sensitive areas like schools, churches and hospitals, Lopez said.
Another immigrant advocacy organization, Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, held a sister protest in Santa Maria on Sunday.
CAUSE policy advocate Erica Diaz Cervantes said undocumented immigrants are tired of being afraid of deportation and separation from their families and the life they've built in California.
'The whole purpose of this march is for the community to come together and stand up and say: No, we're not going to live in fear,' Cervantes told The Tribune on Friday. 'We're going to push back. We, just as any other person here, deserve the opportunity to live without fear and to be able to go to our jobs and provide for our families. '
How to support undocumented immigrants in SLO County as Trump pushes deportation plan
In Paso Robles, splattered picket signs held up to the sky on Sunday at 11:15 a.m.
One sign said, 'familia unidad nunca divida,' meaning 'family unit never divided.' Another sign said 'immigrants make America great.'
A young child munched on a cookie while dancing around his father, who passed him a sign that said 'somos mas.' The father-son duo was one of many families in attendance.
The march started with a rally in the parking lot of the Mixteco Indígenia Community Organizing Project's office in Paso Robles, where participants gathered in a circle to listen to speeches given in Spanish, English and Mixteco.
The march was organized by the Mixteco Indígenia Community Organizing Project and supported by Mujeres de Acción, the Diversity Coalition of San Luis Obispo, the Hispanic Business Association, Democratic Socialists of America San Luis Obispo, Corazon Latino and the Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success.
Assemblymember Dawn Addis attended the protest as well. She represents District 30, which includes most of San Luis Obispo County, along with parts of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
Addis voted to award $25 million to the Legal Defense Fund to support immigrants and said she'll fight to preserve recent MediCal expansions that include undocumented residents.
'We have to work in the legislature and boots on the ground to create change,' she told The Tribune. 'We're going to keep fighting at every turn.'
The group then marched down Spring Street, ending at Downtown City Park for a second rally.
Rita Cassaverde, the executive director of the Diversity Coalition of San Luis Obispo, thanked everyone for attending — not just for themselves, but on behalf of farm workers out in the fields, for friends and neighbors who could not attend and for immigrants deported to El Salvador at the direction of Trump.
'The struggle continues,' she said to the crowd. 'But we are here, united.'
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