This year marks the 15th Anniversary of the first largest gathering to march for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and driver licenses was organized by Voces de la Frontera in 2006 with the help of many local businesses, Latino community activists and Latino media personalities including a bilingual local newspaper in Milwaukee.
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
May 16, 2021
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Sunday, H. Nelson Goodson, a well known investigative journalist for more than 38 years in the field who was the former Publisher of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal, former managing Editor and Co-founder of El Conquistador Newspaper and the former Editor and Co-owner of the Satélite Newspaper in Milwaukee remembered how the local immigration movement for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the fight (La Lucha) for State of Wisconsin driver licenses for the undocumented driver began to grow in popularity.
In the summer of 2005, Goodson was invited to take photos of an event at Cathedral Square Park where his sister Marla Gonis had volunteered to translated for Catholic Priest Eleazar Pérez who among multiple invited guests were scheduled to give oral testimony about their experience immigrating to Wisconsin at the park, which was organized by Voces de la Frontera (VDLF), a non-profit worker rights and immigrant rights organization. Those who gathered at the park to listen to the testimony from the invited guests were less than a dozen people.
Goodson says, that he decided to write an article about the VDLF and Father Pérez testimonial event in the local El Conquistador Newspaper and then he continued to cover events by VDLF locally, which more people gradually responded to the events.
In the early years, VDLF was just beginning to grow, it was also struggling to organize and had lacked economic support from the community and it fell short of becoming a viable voice to represent the immigrant population, according to Goodson.
With that in mind and to help VDLF succeed in its mission to help undocumented immigrants, Goodson sent the articles via emails to other parts of the U.S., which began to ignite an interest for Comprehensive Immigration Reform among immigrant communities.
In 2005, Wisconsin U.S. Representative Jim Sensebrenner (R) introduced the federal REAL ID bill to pressure states into revoking state legislation granting driver licenses or state ID's for undocumented residents. In 2007 in Wisconsin, a bill to eliminate driver licenses and state ID'S for undocumented residents passed the State legislature and was signed into law by former Governor Jim Doyle (D).
Today, it continues as law in the State, recently the Republican/MAGA controlled legislature continues to oppose reinstating driver licenses or permits to drive for the undocumented residents that contribute more than $90M in combined taxes to Wisconsin annually.
The current Governor of Wisconsin Tony Evers (D) included items (provisions) such as driver licenses and in-state tuition for the undocumented residents in the 2021-23 biennial State budget, but the Republican/MAGA controlled Joint Committee on Finance removed the items on May 6, 2021.
There are at least 32K undocumented drivers in the state.
Today, they are 14 states that provide driver licenses to undocumented drivers. The 14 states that have passed a road safety law to offer driver licenses to undocumented drivers are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington.
In 2006, Congressman Sensebrenner also introduced HR 4437, which would have criminalized anyone rendering aid to the undocumented and made it a felony for being undocumented in the country. HR 4437 failed to pass after a nationwide mobilization against the bill was successful.
VDLF was organizing a march for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and anti-HR 4437 and the Real ID movement in March 23, 2006.
A month before the scheduled march, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the Executive Director of VDLF and 6 local community leaders held a closed meeting to help organize the event and to create an initiative plan to generate economic support and commitment by the Latino community to participate in the march.
Those that attended the closed meeting with Neumann-Ortiz were Dagoberto Ibarra from Ibarra Enterprises; Ernesto Nava from Empresarios Pequeños de Wisconsin; Patricia Martinez from La Campeona Radio; Dionisa Gonzalez from Mi Casa Mortgage; Father Eleazar Pérez from St. Adelbert Catholic Church and Victor Huyke, Publisher of El Conquistador Newspaper in Milwaukee, according to Nava.
Father Pérez had organized several immigrant rights marches before VDLF's March 23, 2006 immigrant march. Pérez tried to branch out with other organizations and had wanted for Huyke and Goodson to continue with the marches, but eventually VDLF took the torch and organized the March 23, 2006, with the help of the initial group of six who help VDLF succeed.
Nava remembered that at the time, the group was just expecting at least 3,000 march participants, but to their surprise, more than 30,000 march partipants (diverse group) attended that fateful day on March 23, 2006 that made national news, which included members from the Puerto Rican community, community of color and Mexican descent populations also displaying flags.
The 7-member group that included Neumann-Ortiz, Ibarra, Nava, Martinez, Gonzalez, Pérez and Huyke were successful in getting more than 200 local Hispanic businesses to close and donated to the VDLF March 23, 2006 event.
Goodson recalled the night before the March 23, 2006 event was going to take place in Milwaukee. Goodson received a call from Nava who found out at the last minute that City permits to hold the event at Zeigler Park by the Grand Avenue Mall were not legally issued. Nava was able to get Goodson to act on the matter. Apparently, inquiries were held in getting the permits by VDLF, but no one actually applied for the permits to hold the march, police escort and for the sound system to be setup at the park for invited speakers.
Goodson immediately contacted Huyke and explained the dilemma VDLF was facing the night before the march. Huyke immediately contacted Alderman Tony Zielinski who contacted Alderman Robert Bauman whose District included Zeigler Park. Bauman advised Huyke to fill out the permit for the park and take it to him in the morning and he would sign it. Huyke received the permit to hold the march at Zeigler Park for VDLF.
Goodson also recalled that during the day of the VDLF march, he noticed that throughout the country, there were no famous Latino artists and popular singers and bands supporting the immigrant cause. Goodson managed to stay up for three days after the VDLF march to send out emails to all of the Latino artists, singers, music Latino recording agencies and popular Mexican bands requesting their support for the immigrant communities who made them rich and successful by buying their music products.
The first singing artist to come out public in support of the immigrant community was Daddy Yankee at a New York concert. He came out with the Mexican flag and in support of the immigrant community.
The second artists were El Grupo Recodo in California and then came Shakira and the rest is history.
Goodson was also instrumental in coordinating a network of groups that organized marches and events in coordination with other groups and organizations throughout the nation in favor of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Terry Moran from ABC Nightly News came out on a news report on how incredible that in six days, the immigration rights movement got coordinated nationally.
Goodson gave credit to his late mother Marla O. Anderson who fought for the rights of undocumented immigrants in the early 1970's and Goodson has carried her torch ever since to continue to fight for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, civil rights, immigrant rights and driver licenses for the undocumented drivers as a road safety initiative.
To date, VDLF has not officially recognized Ibarra, Nava, Martinez, Gonzalez, Father Pérez and Huyke for their contribution and success VDLF had in the first largest immigrant march in Wisconsin's history on March 23, 2006.
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