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<p>Immigrant Rights activist are currently participating in the fifth annual immigrant march, in the hopes of educating the public about the constant death of immigrants along the border and the urgent need for immigration reform.</p>
<p>“It has been a year since Obama was elected to office—partly thanks to us—” said Border Angels president Enrique Morones, during his recent visit to Southwestern College, “it is time to press for our cause and inform the US public about the constant tragedy that is happening right in our doorstep: the death of two people every day in their journey to achieve the American Dream”.</p>
<p>For the first time, the march did not start out in San Diego but in the Sasabe dessert instead; an area of dessert and mountains in Mexico known to be a popular point of crossing for immigrants, many of them perish along the journey.</p>
<p>The march includes event in Tucson y Phoenix, and Coachella going to Yuma and spending the night in Calexico, California before ending the march in Holtville, where the bodies of over 700 unidentified immigrants lie in a seemingly endless cemetery of name-less with no names.</p>
<p>Amongst those participating in the march are the Transnational Mexican Brotherhood, Latinamerican Mexican Brotherhood and the North American Federation Council (COFEM), Coachella Valley Latino Council Southern Texas Immigration Council and the Florida Latin Immigration Council.</p>
<p>Author Josefina Lopez, known for her novel turned into movie “Real woman have curves” is marching as well as musician Ivan Gonzalez, who used to be part of Mexican sensation Mana and currently playing with Azul Violeta.</p>
<p>“Most Americans are still blind to the fact a boy’s body has just been found in Imperial Beach, two bodies where recovered recently from the beach and another was found in the mountains… every day, it keeps happening and these deaths are piling up in the American conscience, demanding an answer,” said the activist during his meeting with students.</p>
<p>Action doesn’t stop with the march, there is a rally and sign gathering event on February 6th at Chicano Park, where the goal is to send letters to politicians to let them know the reform is still very much an issue for the public.</p>
<p>For Morones, young latinos –like Southwestern students, are the real future of the immigrant rights movement.</p>
<p>“Many of them are second generation; they where born in the US and have a terrifying impression of their parents countries like México, Honduras, Salvador; they know very little about their past and are constantly bombarded with negative images of those countries” Morones explained, “that’s why I think its crucial for them to know these countries and get to know immigrant stories, including those in their own families.”</p>
<p>This sort of vision gave birth to another big project, a massive concert in Tijuana, Mexico, to be held March 20th at a still unknown venue.</p>
<p>Famous rock band El Tri is going to play and Morones hopes other big names will follow.</p>
<p>“We have full support from the Baja Government, —they see it as a way to shed light on the positive things that can happen in Tijuana, we have the Human Rights Commission and we have two confirmed bands playing; Legendary Tri and Azul Violeta” he added, “ We are still in talks with Jaguares, Lila Downs and Julieta Venegas, whom we hope to convince about the importance of their presence for the immigrant cause”.</p>
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