Mission District Mobilizes for Immigration Reform

An earlier version of this article said there will be 18 buses with 1,000 passengers going to Washington D.C. to march for immigration reform. Those buses will actually be coming to San Francisco on March 24 to march. Only one will go to D.C.. The article also said that the Mission Asset Fund found that 40,000 immigrants were ready to become citizens. It was the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials who concluded that figure. We regret the error.


In what some are calling the largest march in the Obama presidency,a projected 100,000 people will gather in Washington D.C. this Sunday to demand immigration reform.

About a half-dozen of the marchers will be from the Mission District. Tomorrow they will embark on a seven-day bus ride, stopping in eight cities along the way to hold press conferences and fill the 55 spaces on-board.

The march is part of a week of action organized by several local and national groups, ranging from faith-based organizations to labor unions. Activists said their goal is to get Congress to pass a bill this year that will lead to the legalization of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants nationwide.

Some riders are longtime activists, while others, like Oscar Mangandid, a 20-year-old City College student, are newcomers to the cause. "I just want to be part of the momentum," said Mangandid, who got involved three months ago.

A U.S. citizen and Mission resident, he said he is going on this trip for his mother, who came here from El Salvador and recently told him the hardships she underwent when she was undocumented.

Another new activist is Jose Palacios, a legal resident originally from El Salvador. Palacios is not going to Washington but is helping organize the San Francisco effort. Saying that there is "too much injustice," he first became involved because people in his neighborhood were being deported. Read more HERE.

Source:sfgate.com/