Marchers breakfast at St. Ambrose on way to D.C.

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Father Andrzej Skrzypiec, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, welcomes a busload of people from California who traveled by bus across the country to Washington D.C. to attend the March for America, calling for comprehensive immigration legislation reform.

SALT LAKE CITY - Leaving California in a bus blessed by Bishop Jaime Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento, men, women and children representing 18 congregations of different faiths drove across the Nevada desert to Utah, where they broke fast at St. Ambrose Catholic Church before continuing on to Colorado, then into Kansas, through Missouri and eastward to Washington, D.C. Their goal: to join the 200,000 others in the Washington Mall lobbying Congress for comprehensive immigration legislation reform.

"We were really happy to stop here in Utah, especially because of [Bishop John. C. Wester's] support, championing immigration reform," said Fernando Cibrian, one of the journey's organizers. Bishop Soto blessed the bus March 17, the day they left California, and both he and Bishop Wester have been "at the front of helping us move on immigration reform," Cibrian said.

At each stop, the 50 people on the bus were met by reporters, and "the message is starting to get out," Cibrian said. "We want them to hear that we really need to start to move on immigration reform now."

The group was comprised of members of Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action, a non-profit faith-based group based in Berkeley. They're seeking legislation that promotes family reunification, legalization of illegal residents that includes a pathway to citizenship, and workers' rights - all part of the platform promoted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The marchers brought with them thousands of cards asking congressional members to support immigration reform, said Ramiro Montoya, a native of Colombia who became a U.S. citizen last year. He said he joined the bus ride because "I just want to see justice because I've seen so much injustice to immigrants."

Also on the bus were 11-year-old Rebecca Torres, who said her American-born friends can go anywhere they want, but "I can't go because I wasn't born here. I hate when I wish something and it doesn't come true. I wish I could go anyplace I want to and I can't."

Like Torres, Vanessa Borjas was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a very young child. Now a high school junior, Borjas had to turn down a scholarship to a private middle school because she was undocumented. At that point, she realized, "That was the first door that was being closed for me and there was going to be a lot more coming," she said. "It's time for them to do something. We need to have immigration reform."

Father Andrzej Skrzypiec, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, said he agreed to host the group for breakfast on March 18 because "it's about giving opportunities to people who are here and who are...kept in the shadows."