Chicago Sun-Times/[[September 2, 2006]]/Sue Ontiveros/ link

On a weekend when 'mainstream America will gather with family to mark Labor Day, supporters of immigrant rights are joining forces to let America see and hear how important their loved ones are to them.

The Immigrant Workers Justice Walk began Friday at Chinatown Square in the first part of what is to be a four-day, 40-plus-mile walk through Chicago and a dozen suburbs before marchers wind up on Labor Day at the offices of U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert in Batavia. 'They want to show the speaker of the House that the demand for fair and compassionate changes in the immigration law remains.

Jisan Yu of the Korean American Senior Center said there are some 1 million undocumented Asian workers in the United States with "no passport to legal status."

...When the Rev. Brendan Curran, associate pastor of St. Pius V Catholic Church in Pilsen, came on board, he led the group in a prayer that reminded, "we are a country founded on immigrant stories."

...By the time the marchers stopped for another rally in Little Village, the crowd that probably was close to 500 was down to a couple hundred. More were expected to rejoin them as they headed to St. Francis Catholic Church in Cicero, where they'd bed for the night.

The numbers weren't that important, said march organizer Jorge Mujica. "The political meaning of the march message is still there."