Raul Sanchez could relate to the theme of a Lawrence rally for immigration policy reform, given that it honored immigrants who had been detained and deported.

Sanchez’s father was arrested following a traffic stop and later sent back to Mexico, leaving the then-20-year-old in charge of the rest of his family in the United States.

“I wasn’t a child anymore,” Sanchez said at Lawrence’s immigration policy protest Tuesday night in South Park. “But I wasn’t ready to be the head of a household.”

Sanchez said the first element in reforming how undocumented immigrants are treated in the United States should be considering how families are affected by immigration policies.

“I’m not asking to give them citizenship tomorrow,” Sanchez said. “Treat them like human beings.”

He was among about 100 who turned out at South Park for poetry readings and a candlelight vigil organized by the Latino Community Coalition and several other groups.

The event was in front of a large cloth banner on which people wrote messages imploring immigration policy reform.

Rupaleem Bhuyan, a Kansas University assistant professor in the school of social welfare, wrote: “Stop apartheid. Give rights to all.”

Gloria Martinez Adams said she joined the protest in support of people she knew in the immigrant community who were in the United States illegally.

She said the immigration issue affected her as a young girl when her parents faced discrimination.

Martinez Adams recalled how her family and other immigrants had no other options than dilapidated housing in the small mining town of Morenci, Ariz.

“I know so many immigrants that are wonderful, hardworking and honest,” she said. “And that’s why I’m here, because I think they’re wonderful, hardworking and honest people.”

It was a modest crowd in South Park, perhaps because of threatening thunderclouds in the distance.

Adrianne Nunez, who arrived early at the event, said immigration didn’t seem to always be the most discussed topic in Lawrence.

“I wouldn’t say it’s at the back burner,” she said. “It’s not at the forefront.”

Lawrence’s protest was one among hundreds that took place Tuesday across the United States.

In Wichita, a group of protesters – a smaller crowd than the 4,000 who participated last year – made their way to City Hall chanting Cesar Chavez’s well-known motto: “Si se puede,” which translates to “yes we can.”

They also carried signs reading “Stop the raids and deportation” and “Immigrant rights are labor rights,” while enduring rainfall in downtown Wichita.

The event was organized by a community activist at the last minute when he discovered that no event had been planned in Wichita.

Topeka also experienced meager crowds – fewer than the approximately 1,000 who were on hand the previous year – because of severe weather earlier in the day.

Instead, about 75 turned out for a short rally on the steps of the Statehouse.

Nancy Ochoa, who organized the event, said she hoped the immigration issue would gain momentum like previous civil rights efforts had in Kansas, even without much action from Congress.

“We waited patiently, nonviolently, for the process to work. Because it takes time for the political process to work,” she said.

“This is basically put on the back burner. It’s not even important to them.”