A Florida man on a mission to bring awareness to immigration issues stopped in Gainesville on Wednesday after a 450-mile bike ride.
Francisco Diaz, 41, is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who has lived in the United States for 14 years. He plans to ride his bike across about 1,200 miles from Miami to Washington, D.C., on a mission called Pedaling for 20 Million Dreams. His goal is to hand President Barack Obama a pen to sign an executive order that will stop deportations in the U.S.
He began his journey March 2 and has been pedaling his way north.
At a press conference hosted by the UF Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, Diaz said he believes stopping deportations is a necessary start to ongoing immigration reform.
“Immigration reform is later, but I think we have to go step by step,” Diaz said. “And the first step is to stop deportations.”
Cristobal Gonzalez, a 22-year-old UF sociology master’s student, hosted Diaz during his stay in Gainesville.
“I’m interested to see how much support he will receive and how effective his efforts are,” Gonzalez said.
During Wednesday’s conference, Diaz showed listeners the small American flag that waves out of his backpack as he rides.
“I carry the flag because I feel like I am a part of the United States,” he said.
Diaz said he didn’t train for the extensive biking his journey requires, but when he begins to struggle physically, he remembers the stories of the people who have been affected by deportation.
“I have seen my family become broken,” Diaz said. “So I say, ‘No more families broken.’”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 3/13/2014 under the headline “Undocumented man biking to DC to raise awareness"]
