TRUE STORIES, REAL PEOPLE WEIGH IN ON IMMIGRATION DEBATE

HOUSTON– Last winter, the Border Angels set out from the California border town of San Ysidro to reach 40 U.S. cities in 40 days. Enrique Morones, heading the group, wanted to encourage local leaders to join a national demonstration against the draconian House of Representatives-approved bill that would criminalize up to 12 million migrants in this nation.

The caravan traveled across the Southwest, then the Southeast, along the way planting 4,000 crosses to honor those who lost their lives crossing the international divide as they tried to enter the United States.

On a snowy Feb. 18, they were in Washington, D.C. joined by about 30 union representatives, students from Georgetown University and other activists who held up signs near the Capitol building.

Before they proceeded up the walkway leading to the Capitol steps, they huddled for a prayer and a homily. Morones, outwardly a quiet man and seemingly detached, is inner-driven by a faith in the truth of his mission.

When they reached the top of the Capitol steps, they stood with their handmade signs pointed in the direction of the Washington Monument; then after five minutes turned to face the Capitol dome.

What I saw as a reporter that day was a deep respect for our national institutions. It was moving. They were reverential. Here’s something cynics cannot understand because it has to do with a devotion to the ideal Congress stands for. It is about a faith in the search for justice at the inner core of United States decision-making.

By the time they walked back down the steps, the group had grown to 40. A child asked her mother — they were plainly day tourists — what were the people doing. They were there “because somebody is putting up a wall between us,” her mom said.

In the following days, the caravan moved on to Philadelphia, New York, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Salt Lake City, and Denver and back to the West Coast.

Soon thereafter the spring protests of 2006 began. They brought out five million people. No, the Border Angels alone did not ignite the largest demonstrations in U.S. history. But they were one of the important sparks.

Approaching a year later, President Bush has reaffirmed his commitment to immigration reform and the new Democratic majority in Congress ...