Mar 25, 2006 4:04 pm US/Mountain
Tens Of Thousands Attend Immigration Rally
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Streets around the capitol in Denver were blocked early Saturday afternoon as an unexpectedly large number of Coloradans gathered. The thousands of rallyers were showing their support for "fair and complete" immigration reform.
The rally started at 10 a.m. in Civic Center Park.
Members of the Greater Denver Ministerial Alliance, El Centro Humanitario and Rights for all People were sharing their views.
The rally comes as Congress is expected to take up the issue of immigration reform, with several controversial proposals on the table.
Saturday's rally follows several rallies across the country and more that are planned for the weekend.
Thousands of demonstrators in Phoenix protested the proposal Friday that would add more security to the U.S. border and make illegal immigration a felony.
In Los Angeles, hundreds of students also took to the streets to show their opposition.
The escalating controversy puts farmers like Dewey Zapka of Weld County, right in the middle.
"Let them come here legal, quit chasing them," Zapka said. "Let them be comfortable here while they're working and doing our work that nobody else will do."
Those who run farms and factories across the country rely on migrant workers and they say the immigration problem can't be solved by one long fence along the border. They want congress to focus on a guest-worker program.
There are about seven million undocumented workers in the United States and state troopers in Colorado say they feel the affects of the booming population.
"On average our officers are in contact with over 500 a week," Colorado State Trooper Eric Wynn said.
It's an issue congress has come under increasing pressure to deal with.
And while immigrants rights protests certainly put the pressure on lawmakers, they leave farmers like Zapaka struggling to find help with this year's harvest.
The senate judiciary committee is expected to approve a version of a guest worker program next week. The program would allow illegal immigrants who work to remain in the U.S. temporarily, instead of being deported.
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