Rallies brought together thousands in several cities across the country Wednesday, including one in Champaign-Urbana, to add a collective voice to immigration debates on Capitol Hill.

As part of a National Day of Action, students, area residents and members of several labor unions, fraternities and sororities held a rally in the rain to shed light on the ongoing national debates regarding comprehensive immigration reform, said Ricardo Diaz, an organizer of the C-U Immigration Forum’s rally. He said he wanted to draw attention to the difficultly of obtaining citizenship in the U.S.

Diaz said the first objective of the “Light the Path to Citizenship” rally was to show Rep. Rodney Davis, R-13, community support for immigration reform. Diaz said he doesn’t want to wait for Congress to turnover again and for the debates to start over. And the rallies across the country expressed a similar message: Reform is not happening fast enough.

As part of his re-election platform, President Barack Obama promised to overhaul the way people become citizens in this country, but Diaz and others at the rally said they are frustrated with the wait because they have seen little action three months into Obama’s second term. Obama’s comprehensive immigration reform is supposed to streamline the path to citizenship. Simplifying the process is paramount, Diaz said.

There is no single path to becoming a legal U.S. citizen, and thousands of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country have waited years, even decades, to obtain their citizenship.

Anh Ha Ho, co-director of the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center, which was one of the sponsors of the rally, has been waiting years for her citizenship since she came here from Vietnam. At the refugee center, she works to provide asylum and resources for everyone who comes to its doors because she said she wants to make the U.S. as much of a home for them as it is for her.

“This country, for many, is the promised land where dreams come true, where there are opportunities, and you don’t have to fear war or genocide,” Ho said.

Diaz said immigration is no stranger to thousands in Champaign-Urbana. The area boasts a large immigrant population, many of whom have seen their families torn apart by deportation and lack of protection for undocumented citizens, he said.

Without proper documentation or citizenship, some college students are unable to obtain the financial aid necessary to attend a university. Mariana Puentes, senior in LAS, began working with La Colectiva, a Registered Student Organization that addresses local immigration issues, because she knew someone personally who had been affected by U.S. immigration laws. One of her close friends was denied financial aid because of a lack of citizenship. She brought these issues to her sorority sisters at the University’s Gamma Phi Omega chapter, which also sponsored the rally.

Also at the rally was Ann Abbott, professor of Spanish and director of advanced Spanish language at the University. Abbott teaches a class that puts students in direct contact with Spanish-speaking local immigrants to learn about the obstacles and opportunities presented to them. She said students often change their minds about immigration after seeing this is an issue regarding “human beings.”

The rally, which marched from the University YMCA to the federal courthouse in Urbana, drew roughly 50 people.

Through one of the megaphones in the poncho-clad mass, a protestor shouted, “Obama, escucha, estamos en la lucha” — loosely, “Obama, listen up, we are in this struggle.”

Ryan can be reached at [email protected] and @ryanjweber.