PRESS/COMMUNITY ADVISORY February 30, 2006
March for Migrants (San Diego to DC) this Thursday!

(San Diego) Today he would have turned 21, instead he was assassinated one month ago, this month end! Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, you will not be forgotten. You are one of 4000 unnecessary deaths since OPERATION GATEKEEPER began, October 1994.

Basta! We demand justice. This Thursday, February 2, on the anniversary of the beginning of it all, the anniversary of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, (US invasion of Mexico and the taking of half its territory). WE WILL MARCH/CARAVAN TO WASHINGTON !

"If not now, when, if not us, who? We demand justice! NO MORE DEATHS, NO MORE MILITARIZATION OF THE BORDER, NO MORE RACIST MEDIA, NO MORE VIGILANTES OR HATE LEGISLATION, WE DEMAND RESPECT, WE WILL HAVE JUSTICE" states Enrique Morones of Border Angels and Gente Unida.

The March for Migrants and mankind starts in San Diego (San Ysidro @ the wall on Virginia Street, just east of plaza America) @ 1200 noon with a ceremonial planting of the first of 4000 crosses to be planted across the country in the memory of the "at least" 4000 migrants that have perished as a result of OPERATION GATEKEEPER. The 1st cross will be planted by Agustin Martinez (brother of Guillermo).

The historic march caravan will work its way to Sacramento, after stops in Imperial Valley with braceros at Calexico/Mexicali border, planting of 400 crosses @ Holtville Cemetery in honor of the unidentified migrants buried there, rally with Mechista students @ UCR, hold a vigil with (UFW co-founder) Dolores Huerta @ LA's Plazita Olvera, join San Fernando Valley hermandad, meet with field workers in Fresno, attend mass in San Francisco's basilica and meet with legislators in Sacramento.

In Arizona they will march in support of NO MORE DEATHS humanitarian workers, memorialize the record deaths in Tucson sector before heading to El Paso and on to a ceremony by the Alamo in San Antonio. In Victoria, the site of 19 suffocation deaths in the back of a semi, they will plant 18 crosses and one smaller one for 5 year old Marco Antonio, then have a community signing petition drive in Houston and a rally by the JFK Memorial in Dallas.

The caravan will then pass through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama before reaching Atlanta and a special message for CNN'S Lou Dobbs. After passing through North Carolina the March for Migrants will finally reach Washington DC for meetings with legislators and a strong message of NO TO HR4437 and the recent wave of right wing anti Migrant legislation, while planning to meet with the likes of Senators McCain and Kennedy to learn more of their proposal, as well as other key legislators , including members of the Hispanic caucus.

After a February 18th rally at the capitol they plan to return to the West Coast via Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and meet with Governor Richardson in New Mexico (he called to wish us well on caravan and ask that we stop by for a visit). After passing through Nevada the group will finally return to San Diego the weekend of February 26th.

For more information on joining, supporting or learning more of the March/Caravan for Migrants contact Enrique Morones @ 619 269-7865