Milwaukee To Madison: Immigration Activists Make 90 Mile March

MADISON, WI— After a nine day march, immigration activist group Voces de la Frontera arrived in Madison to rally for citizenship and licenses—all in hopes of putting pressure on the Biden administration to make bold policy decisions.

On June 20, the marchers, many of whom are immigrants and essential workers, left the organization’s home base of Milwaukee for a 90-mile trek toward the state Capitol. On Monday morning, the marchers held rallies at Olbirch Park and later arrived at the Capitol with speakers and chants for citizenship and licenses for all undocumented immigrants.

Immigrant Essential Workers are at the steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol after a 9 day 90 mile march to tell @POTUS and our Democratic Congressional leaders the time to act on ctizenship is NOW! #Citizenship4All #WeAreHome pic.twitter.com/lR3RKWmSbE
— Voces de la Frontera Action (@VDLF_Action) June" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/VDLF_Actio... 28, 2021

Voces, a community organization led by immigrants, is hoping that the protest will push federal legislatures to focus their attention on creating a pathway to citizenship and giving out licenses—such as drivers licenses—to undocumented immigrants.

"In a historic 9-day march from Milwaukee to Madison to pressure the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress to include citizenship for 11 million in the infrastructure and jobs budget bill that will be voted on this summer,” the Voces de la Frontera website says.

The marchers waved bright yellow “CITIZENSHIP” flags and a banner reading “Biden: Go Big, Go Bold—Citizenship for All.” And, along the way, they held rallies in Waukesha, met up with local legislatures, groups like Wisconsin Farmers Association and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.

Advocating for the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants across the United States, the marchers emphasized how crucial these people are in holding essential jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2016, about 75,000 people in Wisconsin were undocumented immigrants with many immigrants making up large shares of the state’s top industries like manufacturing and agriculture.

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