The "Pilgrimmage for a Pathway to Citizenship" -- a 285-mile walk undertaken by eleven people affiliated with PICO California, a non-profit advocate for working families comprised largely of religious congregations -- concluded on Monday afternoon as the "pilgrims" arrived at the Bakersfield offices of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R- Calif.) after some 21 days of walking from the city of Sacramento. "The feet are blistered, the feet are sore, the feet are raw, but I would do this a hundred times over if I knew that I would get something," Josh Stenner, a Bakersfield resident who walked the 285 miles, told a local ABC affiliate.
According to the organization's website, the eleven walkers embarked on their journey on August 11 to "call attention to the need for a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring Americans in the country". Later on Monday, supporters of the walkers from across California were scheduled to join them in Bakersfield to ask Rep. McCarthy, who is majority whip of the House GOP, for his support for immigration legislation with a path to citizenship for the undocumented. Along the way, the walkers met with faith and community leaders as well as a group of pro-reform politicians which included Democratic Reps. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), and Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.).
Upon their arrival at McCarthy's offices - where the representative did not meet them -- the 11 "pilgrims" left their shoes on an altar in what they said was a gesture to commemorate those who had struggled because of a broken immigration system, according to ABC. "Even though we are full of blisters and ache...we come to realize our pain is nothing compared to the pain of torn families," Gonzalo Santos, 63, a professor of sociology at California State University Bakersfield, told the Bakersfield Californian. He added that he had been inspired to join the marchers after learning that several of his students' parents had been deported. Santos called Rep. McCarthy's decision not to receive them a sign of "the arrogance of power.", saying, "We are here and he did not show up to listen. We are coming. We are not stopping. We are not going away."
The majority of the walkers were not from McCarthy's district, which entered the national spotlight as an immigration battleground when some 1,500 proponents of reform with a path to citizenship descended on Bakersfield in buses and cars to protest the representative's opposition to the idea. McCarthy has been seen as a tough but vulnerable target for immigration activists, as his district is 35 percent Latino and heavily dependent on immigrant labor for the farms which power its economy. He has held firm in his opposition to a path to citizenship for the undocumented, and has called instead for legislation which acts to secure the nation's border with Mexico.
RELATED: Kevin McCarthy's Bakersfield, Calif. District Receives 1,500 Immigration Reform Activist Visitors
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