Rosa was only five years old when her family left their native Mexico, but she still remembers being crammed into a tiny room filled with other immigrants hoping to make a new life in America.
Rosa was one of dozens of demonstrators taking part in a 24 hour vigil Friday night in support of immigration reform.
"We're all scared," said Rosa as she stood on the square in Painesville. "We don't know what's gonna happen to us. One of these days we could be walking down the street going to the store and get pulled over and they can deport us."
Rosa's mother was deported last year.
The demonstrators carried signs and waved American flags.
"They don't steal jobs," said demonstrator Camilo Villa. "They do pay taxes. They contribute to the economy. They contribute to society. They are the students in our schools, the workers in our fields. If we want them to participate fully in society, the best way to do it is to give them a path to citizenship so they can come out of the shadows."
Across the street another group of demonstrators stood silently holding signs against immigration reform.
"I'm all for immigration," said John Muzik of Painesville Township. "But we have laws, rules and procedures to do so and I ask that we follow them."
