Forward With Your Promise
Immigration Reform Is Not Amnesty
On September 10th, 2011 Santos de La Rosa of The Immigration Information Advocates Inc., embarked on The “Knee-A-Thon Thank You Pilgrimage” from his home in Sebring, FL. His mission was to raise awareness about our country’s broken immigration system as he journeyed to Washington, D.C. entirely on his knees. Since the beginning, members of The Farmworker Association of Florida, The Farmworkers Ministry Inc, & The Young American Dreamers have supported & participated in this endeavor. After the passing of The Young American Dreamers founder, Maria Isabel Barajas-Martinez, Santos de La Rosa dedicated the journey to her on June 30th, of this year. Traveling on for approximately 2 hours every Saturday, participants of the knee-a-thon, have now arrived 3 miles south of Clermont, FL.
As of November 10th, the "Knee-A- Thon Thank You Pilgrimage" has taken a brief, but strategic recess as it is now growing and gaining momentum. Leaders of various organizations have joined forces with the organizers of the knee-a- thon, and it is now evolving into a caravan. The name of this new & united front will be the “Forward With Your Promise Caravan" and is being planned to start on January 3, 2013 from the knee a thon's last stop, just south of Clermont, FL. It will be making 3 key stops per state as it travels through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, & Virginia, until finally reaching Washington D.C. for the Presidential inauguration on January 21st, 2013. The cities & dates are still being planned out and will be announced soon. Each stop will include a march (distance determined as time permits) into/through each city & will end upon arrival to a set destination. There will be an event for social justice & immigration reform after each march in each city.
We apologize to all our supporters for this sudden change in strategy, but there are strong reasons for doing this. We are doing this journey to remind President Obama of the promise he made in his 2008 "Change" campaign to Latino voters of passing a comprehensive immigration reform within his first year in office. However, he not only failed to do so, but allowed record breaking numbers of deportations to take place during his administration. It was not until weeks before his re-election campaign that President Obama announced an executive order for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (D.A.C.A.) which only allows for employment authorization, not residency, much less a path way to citizenship. So now we say "Forward With Your Promise" of a true comprehensive immigration reform & real path way to citizenship.
From Knee-A-Thon to Caravan
