El Cajon residents take to streets to support immigrants

Immigration march in El Cajon Photo courtesy Joe Orellana El Cajon residents and others from all across San Diego braved afternoon sun and temperatures approaching the s Saturday in aid of the region s immigrant population and to demand that ICE be removed from the city Hundreds of people took to the streets in El Cajon to take part in the Marcha Para Immigrantes Communidad Rally on Saturday afternoon Immigration march in El Cajon Photo courtesy Joe Orellana Organizers who included groups such as Fuerza Hispana de El Cajon Latinos En Acci n and Uni n del Barrio coordinated the march in order to protest raids and family separations in the region and across Southern California that have ramped up under the Trump administration which they say perpetuates a legacy of inhumane laws that criminalize and villainize immigrant communities Speakers declared that El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells and the El Cajon City Council should resign after passing a controversial immigration enforcement resolution earlier this year declaring El Cajon not a sanctuary city and greenlighting police to work with federal immigration bureaucrats Protesters commented that the resolution is in direct violation of SB a California state law that prohibits cities from turning anyone over to federal immigration personnel unless they have been convicted in court of certain felony crimes El Cajon was also the site of a militarized workplace raid in March during which fifteen people were arrested at San Diego Powder Protective Coatings Immigration march in El Cajon Photo courtesy Joe Orellana More than protesters carrying signs decrying President Donald Trump s attempts to reshape the constitution and waving an assortment of flags from countries such as Mexico Palestine and Iraq made their way down Main Street Evidence of the city s diverse population could be seen with a myriad of storefronts and businesses displaying signs in Spanish Arabic Pashto and English El Cajon is notable for its immigrant population Roughly a third of its residents were born outside the United States and of the city s population identifies as Hispanic or Latino The city is also home to vibrant Middle Eastern and North African communities particularly Iraqi Americans and Iraqi immigrants of Arab Chaldean and Assyrian descent At least of its residents identify as Chaldean making El Cajon home to one of the largest Chaldean communities outside Iraq second in the United States only to Detroit Michigan For Crystal Abrahim a lifelong resident of El Cajon Saturday s march hit particularly close to home given her family s own journey to the United States I am a product of immigrants my parents came here to the U S Abrahim stated I m Chaldean we re a Christian minority from Iraq and I was raised Catholic It s in my core to love my neighbors and this is so close to me because these are my brothers and sisters Our locality is being terrorized they re being speared And we need to come together stand up and let them know that we re going to protect them as much as we can Mairene Branham of the nonprofit Latinos En Acci n described the crowd that out of the nearly cities in California only two Huntington Beach and El Cajon have officially declared themselves as not sanctuary cities Not only that our city council went even further to violate California law to say that our El Cajon police department can definitely collaborate with ICE on operations Branham reported Immigration march in El Cajon Photo courtesy Joe Orellana Local attorney John Gomez who grew up in El Cajon agreed This city has been described as a mini United Nations he explained But in the modern day Main Street is empty as good hard-working people are scared to come outside Ryan Fan is advocacy and campaign manager of the Majdal Center an El Cajon-based advocacy group and neighborhood center for Arab-Americans He decried the use of military tactics and weaponry being used by ICE and local police departments When I talk to other population leaders and friends from different ethnic racial and religious backgrounds I keep hearing the same thing over and over our communities are afraid Fan stated They re afraid to go to school to go to work to attend religious services even just to step outside to go get groceries As Saturday s rally drew to a close Violet a member of Yo Soy El Cajon a group of society leaders and advocates in East County closed the afternoon s demonstration with a show optimism vowing to protect immigrant communities not just in El Cajon but throughout San Diego We hear you we feel your pain and we will continue to fight for you she disclosed Together we are strong together El Cajon stands with immigrants