Natali del Carmen Fani of the Maryland Latino Coalition

About 200 immigrant workers, students, and their supporters rallied at the University of Maryland School of Law in support of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride and in-state tuition for immigrant students.

Drawing inspiration from the early 1960s Freedom Riders who helped catalyze the civil rights movement for African Americans, the IWFR seeks social justice for immigrant workers today. Two buses of immigrants arrived in Baltimore from Minneapolis the previous day. The Maryland State Legislature had passed a bill allowing in-state tuition rates at colleges and universities for the children of immigrants. Though the votes were 30-15 in the Senate and 73-50 in the House, Governor Ehrlich vetoed the bill.

Natali del Carmen Fani of the Maryland Latino Coalition for Justice led the rally with chants in Spanish and English--"What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!", "Que queremos? Justicia! Cuando? Ahora!" Then, the Freedom Riders marched into the plaza carrying the yellow IWFR sign with the image of the Statue of Liberty and echoing the words of Cesar Chavez from the United Farmworkers movement of the 1960s and 70s,the crowd chanted "Si, Se Puede!" (Yes, we can).Carmen Fani, the moderator who translated the speeches from Spanish to English and vice versa, occasionally called out to the crowd "Mexico" (cheers), "Dominican Republic" (cheers), "El Salvador" (cheers), "Ethiopia" (cheers).