Rallies in Chicago put the local spotlight on an issue that has struggled to maintain relevance in Washington
By Matthew Blake
Stephen N. Smith does not lack for enthusiasm. A 30 year-old community organizer who has already
written a book about his political activism, Smith was hired ten days ago by the Illinois Coalition of Immigration and Refugee Rights to campaign for immigration reform – the ambitious legislative goal to preserve national security while bringing an estimated 11 million illegal aliens out of the shadows of American society.
There Smith was – on a dark, windy and freezing Wednesday afternoon in Chicago relaying the fun he was having talking to Congressional staffers about immigration rights. “The next step is for America to pivot from health care reform to immigration reform,” Smith told a small group of post-adolescent activists huddled in front of downtown Federal Plaza. “We are raising a ruckus to make sure that this is the number one next issue on the national agenda.”
The pitch came during a week of immigration demonstrations that culminated with a rally Saturday afternoon at Chicago’s elegant First Baptist Church, fifteen blocks west of downtown. Nationally, other cities with high Latino populations – like Los Angeles and Phoenix – also staged demonstrations.
In Washington, though, reform of an increasingly punitive immigration policy vies for attention with job creation, financial regulatory reform, and climate legislation – issues that also received scant attention during 2009 (or “The Year of Health Care").