Hundreds of community members gathered on the Quad yesterday for the National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice. The demonstration was in support of comprehensive immigration reform and to denounce HR-4437, a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would criminalize undocumented immigrants and their allies.

“Our goal is to bring attention to immigrant rights and to (HR-4437) so that people will learn about it and how ridiculous it is,” said Diana Mora, junior in LAS and president of La Colectiva, a Latino student organization on campus.

The event began on the corner of Green and Neil streets at 11 a.m. Protesters marched along Green Street until they reached the Quad where a rally was held at noon. Protesters, dressed in white to show solidarity, waved the American and Mexican flags and held signs with messages including, “We are workers, not criminals.”

They chanted, “The community united will never be divided” in English and Spanish.

Mora estimated the crowd totaled more than 1,000.

Sergio Rivera was one of many Champaign residents attending the rally.

“We are not felons,” he said. “We just want to have the opportunity we never had in our country. We just want to work hard and have a better life.”

Protesters directed their message to local Rep. Tim Johnson (R-15) who recently voted in favor of HR-4437. The proposed bill will make it more difficult for legal immigrants to become citizens and will criminalize Americans who help undocumented immigrants in any way.

Those attending the rally are hoping comprehensive immigration reform will provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States.

Rolando Martinez, junior in Communications, opposes the bill for personal reasons.

“My parents were undocumented immigrants,” he said. “The whole bill is oppressing people. People are just looking for a better opportunity. If a bill like this were passed, people like me would not be here now.”

The rally featured various speakers from the Latino community who spoke about the importance of immigrant rights. Near the end of the rally, protestors called Johnson’s office on their cell phones to ask him to change his vote and support an immigration bill that would provide for citizenship of undocumented workers.

Sonia Rodriguez, freshman in LAS, stressed the importance of persistence.

“Keep calling,” she said to the crowd over a loudspeaker. “They’re telling people who get through not to call.”

The rally concluded with a letter writing campaign to Johnson to persuade him to favor the Student Adjustment Act, which would guarantee a college education for the 65,000 undocumented high school seniors around the country.

Undocumented immigrants pay between $90 and $140 billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes, according to information distributed at the rally from justiceforimmigrants.org. The flyer also stated the net profit of immigration to the U.S. is nearly $10 billion annually.

“The work is hard for people who have no papers and who are illegal here,” said Elias Francisco, an undocumented immigrant living and working in Champaign who spoke with the help of a translator.

To illustrate the impact undocumented immigrants have on the economy, protestors participated in a one-day economic boycott in conjunction with the rally.

“We’re asking people not to shop, not to go to restaurants, not to purchase any gas or go to work or school,” said Mora. “The American economy will suffer.”

The National Day of Action spurred peaceful demonstrations around the country.

“This is a human rights issue,” Mora said. “People should care.”