MAGIC VALLEY — The ACLU of Idaho received close to 10,000 handmade butterflies with handwritten notes from people all over the world expressing their support for immigration reform.
The organization began its efforts to collect at least 500 handmade butterflies late last March with a goal to urge congress to pass the citizenship act of 2021.
“We got some from Canada, from Mexico, and even one from Germany as well and obviously we got one from all 50 states," Rosseli Guerrero, advocacy fellow for ACLU of Idaho, said.
This week, the ACLU of Idaho took those 10,000 butterflies to Washington D.C. for a demonstration.
“You know we are really trying to hold our politicians accountable and for them to keep their promises to pass immigration reform," Guerrero said.
The butterflies included personal stories from people expressing why immigration reform is important to them. Many of them recounted stories of their families being separated.
The ACLU of Idaho says they hope Congress will take the time to read these stories and be encouraged to take action on the citizenship act of 2021.
“We had someone from Georgia whose father got deported and her sister’s a DACA recipient so she wasn’t able to go visit her dad at all. We had people that weren’t able to say goodbye to their family members because they were here undocumented," Guerrero said.
The ACLU of Idaho created a banner with the 10,000 handmade butterflies that said #11Million, representing the 11 million undocumented people in the U.S.
They marched with the banner from the Black Lives Matter plaza to Capitol Hill.
“We had a lot of stories talking about how even though it is really hard to be an immigrant in this country they are still thriving. We had nurses write to us we had students write to us. So we saw the perseverance of our community in those messages in those butterflies," Guerrero said.
“You know we are really trying to hold our politicians accountable and for them to keep their promises to pass immigration reform," Guerrero said.
Their next goal is to be able to send those handmade butterflies directly to congress.
“Hopefully our congresspeople see those messages and maybe reconsider, for those people not wanting immigration reform for them to reconsider and see these are people that are just trying to work and thrive in this country," Guerrero said.
