PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Santos De La Rosa, hipoteca1@comcast.net
KNEELING PILGRIMAGE SEEKS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO NEED FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM
Sebring, Florida, Sept. 7, 2011 - Santos De La Rosa plans to leave home at
sunrise on September 10, headed for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC -
on his knees.
"Traveling a thousand miles on my knees is nothing," De La Rosa says,
"compared to what immigrants in the U.S. have to bear, especially immigrants
who are farmworkers." His journey is intended to draw attention to the
reasons many people want to come to the United States, and the hardships
they suffer. Ultimately, he hopes to see immigration laws reformed to make
it easier for them to come to the U.S., work here, and remain here.
De La Rosa, age 56, is a third generation American; he and his parents were
born in the U.S. As migrant farmworkers, he says, they gained an
understanding of the difficulties facing immigrants, particularly
undocumented farmworkers. He believes others may not have learned the same
lessons.
"U.S. citizens who complain about undocumented immigrants are not bad
people," De La Rosa says. "But they have never been poor and they also don't
know how hard it is for poor people to get here legally. You can't wait 10
or 15 years to get a visa before you start providing for your family. Others
would probably do the same thing in the same situation. People know they may
die trying to get into the U.S., but they feel they have to try anyway. Then
when they get here they don't mind taking the jobs no one else wants, like
hard farm labor."
De La Rosa has great faith in humanity, as well as in God. He is sure that
others will help him through his "Knee-a-Thon" and will even join in for at
least part of his travels. He estimates the journey will take years because
he cannot set aside the rest of his life to make this trip. He will travel
on Saturdays and Sundays, while keeping his full time job for a nonprofit
organization in Sebring. Every weekend he will drive farther from home to
begin at the point where he finished the previous weekend. (He will not
travel on November 12 because of a prior commitment.)
"I want to say thank you and God bless to all the millions of good people in
this great nation that believe in human rights," De La Rosa states. "Thank
you for understanding the obstacles that undocumented immigrants face and
for helping them because it's the right thing to do. I thank those who are
in the military also, for preserving American rights so that we can express
our opinions, as I am doing with this pilgrimage."
De La Rosa plans to use his Facebook page to let others know about his
progress as he moves toward the Lincoln Memorial.
