Chattanooga: Public learns about immigration myths

Sabina Salas came to the United States 10 years ago, fleeing violence and persecution in her native Guatemala because she worked in an organization to defend indigenous rights.

She found a refuge in Chattanooga until April 16, when she was arrested with 99 other Pilgrim’s Pride workers suspected of being in the country illegally, she told a group of about 80 people Thursday at Memorial Auditorium.

Now she wears a court-ordered monitoring bracelet on her ankle and can’t work, she said.

“Our lives have changed since that day,” she said through an interpreter. “We have to charge the bracelet for two hours a day, and we haven’t been able to work.”

The Hispanic Displacement Relief Coalition, which consists of about eight local service agencies, hosted a public forum Thursday. The goal was to inform the community about the common myths of immigration and show the human side of the issue, said Stacy Johnson, chairwoman of La Paz de Dios, which serves as a resource center for immigrants adjusting to a new life in the United States.

“We want to let the community know the raids happened in April, but the needs are still here,” she said.

Roschelle Bautista, a black Spanish teacher at Dalton State College in Georgia, said blacks and Hispanics have very similar stories.

“I don’t think it’s going to get any better until we band together just like the whites and the African-Americans did in the ’60s and protested, so we can change laws that were already on the books,” said Mrs. Bautista, who is married to a Mexican immigrant.