Immigration activists begin 50-mile march

Immigration activists begin 50-mile march
Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press
Published September 1, 2006, 12:21 PM CDT

Another march for immigration reform is under way in Chicago today, but these marchers plan to go a lot farther.

They stepped off from Chicago's Chinatown on a planned 50-mile, four-day march to the Batavia office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Catherine Salgado of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights says she expects 400 to 500 people to walk the entire distance. But she says she expects thousands to show up at various rallies along the route.

Salgado says the group is marching to Hastert's office in the hopes of persuading the House Speaker to help push immigration reform legislation that she says is stalled in Congress.

But she says Hastert hasn't agreed to meet with the marchers when they arrive at his office Monday and as far as she knows he won't be there.