Those who want to come out to support the cause are encouraged to do so.

A group of “concerned citizens, their families and their children of Lake Wales and surrounding areas” are traveling on their knees to help their undocumented fellow man and their families, according to Santos de la Rosa, one of the coordinators.

The group plans to crawl on their knees from Florida to Washington, D.C., so that others will understand issues immigrants face.

“They want their political leaders to take notice of the struggles and sacrifices this community endures, even as they contribute to the national economy and to the social fabric of this country, because currently they do not have an avenue to apply for a legal status,” de la Rosa said.

The purpose of what has come to be called the “Knee-A-Thon” is to draw attention to the crisis facing immigrant families, he notes.

He says that as the battle for the Republican presidential nomination plays itself out in states across the nation, “immigrants and their supporters are closely watching the candidates’ rhetoric on how they would address the country’s issue of immigration and the immigrant community’s concerns. Tired of being cast as ‘the problem’ in the nation’s struggling economy and saddened by the rending of families from stepped up detentions and deportations, some Central Florida citizens and residents are ‘falling to their knees,’” he says, yet not in “submission,” but in “strength and solidarity,” hoping others will come out in support of “the dignity and human rights of immigrants and their families.”

“This Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7:30 a.m., concerned families from the Central Florida area will join the Knee-A-Thon to bring attention to the urgent need for immigration reform and to stop the tragic separation of families that results in children of undocumented immigrants being left without their parents. The gathering will begin at the intersection of Highway 60 and U.S. 27 and end at 10:30 a.m. approximately two miles north from there on U.S. 27,” de la Rosa noted.

Furthermore, he adds, “The citizens/community leaders are dismayed and disturbed that the presidential bid is being waged by candidates trying to outdo each other as the ‘strictest’ on immigration, all the while trying to court the Hispanic vote by denying being ‘anti-immigrant.’”

In the group’s literature, supporters of the Knee-A-Thon note that they feel as if the phrase “protecting our borders” really means “targeting anyone who looks Hispanic,” and fear becoming a target.

De La Rosa adds that crimes against immigrants have increased as a result of the immigrant community’s fears of reporting criminal acts to local law enforcement authorities.

“This, in turn, makes our communities less safe,” he said.

“We don’t understand how our national leaders can talk about supporting ‘family values’ at the same time that they support increasing deportations of immigrants and when they oppose positive policies such as the DREAM Act, that can only help qualified young immigrant students and improve our country overall,” said Tirso Moreno, general coordinator of the Farmworker Association of Florida. “That is a contradiction, and the Hispanic community can see through it,” she said.

“It is unjust to scapegoat my community and to treat people this way. We need a new civil rights movement in this country today and the immigrant community is leading the way.”

Moreno adds that Univision Television Spanish news reports there are more than 45,000 children of immigrant parents in the U.S. who have been left without their parents due to stepped up deportations of undocumented immigrants.

The Knee-A-Thon can be followed on Facebook under the “Knee-A-Thon Thank You Pilgrimage,” under the info tab.

For more information, call de la Rosa at (863) 414-2217 or Moreno at (407) 880-3330.