We Belong Together, 100 Women, 100 Mile Pilgrimage to the Pope

A group of 100 women have been walking toward Washington, D.C., since Tuesday, Sept. 15 on a 100-mile pilgrimage that they hope will encourage Pope Francis to put fixing our broken immigration system at the center of his discussions with public officials in Washington, DC this week.

Union women have been joining and supporting the marchers along the way since the pilgrimage began at a York County, PA detention center. The Maryland AFL-CIO held a community event in Baltimore last Saturday, and more union women were on hand as the marchers arrived in Washington, DC on September 22, including AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and UNITE HERE Vice President Maria Elena Durazo, who addressed the marchers’ closing vigil. CWA Education Representative Melissa Matos led a delegation of CWAers, including members of Casa De Maryland, to the event.

They marched because women in communities across the country are affected by U.S. immigration policies that undermine their families’ wellbeing. Because of the broken immigration system, many women are vulnerable to economic exploitation and struggle to survive. They often endure wage theft, sexual harassment, and injury on the job. Our entire workforce suffers when we allow standards to erode as millions of workers struggle to support their families without the status to assert their rights.