Undocumented Latinos end protest tour of south at Democratic convention

'No Papers No Fear' group reach Charlotte, North Carolina after six weeks of holding rallies and confronting prejudice.

The Guardian. Ed Pilkington.  

For the past 15 years Miguel Guerra has been living in the shadows as an undocumented Latino immigrant in the US. He kept out of view, avoided public places and never spoke his mind to anyone outside his immediate family.

Not any more.

Under a blazing North Carolina sun, Guerra joined almost 50 other undocumented Latino immigrants on a Sunday in a park on the outskirts of Charlotte, the North Carolinan venue of this week's Democratic national convention. It was in effect a mass coming out ceremony.

For the past six weeks the group has been riding across the American south in a converted Greyhound bus bearing the slogan: "No Papers No Fear". They have stopped in about 20 cities in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia before arriving in North Carolina, holding rallies and confronting anti-Latino prejudice along the way.

"We're no longer afraid to say we are undocumented," Guerra declared. Read more.