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GREENSBORO — Saturday afternoon’s rain did not wash away the hope of some residents who want to get equal treatment for immigrants.

About 15 people gathered at the Millennium Gate in downtown Greensboro for a prayer vigil organized by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro and the public advocacy campaign “Standing on the Side of Love.”

“A week ago if you’d have asked me how many people would be here in clear weather, I would have said 15,” organizer Steve Pearsall said.

“So to have this turnout in this weather was great.”

Pearsall, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro, said the rally against a controversial Arizona immigration law helps bring the issue of this country’s unfair practices back to the forefront.

“It is incredibly unfair and cruel the way we do things,” Pearsall said. “Our current laws and policies have an end result of causing people to have to come to this country without documentation.”

High Point resident Jorge Valdes agreed. It took him 14 years to obtain a visa for his brother to come to the U.S.

“It’s ridiculous because people get tired of waiting,” he said.

Valdes, a Spanish teacher at High Point Central, attended the rally Saturday because of his concern for his students who could be or have been forced back to their countries of origin because they came here without documentation as children, he said.

“We’re losing bright, very intelligent people to deportation,” he said. “It’s sad because they are more American than anything because it’s all they know.”

Valdes said more people, not just Latinos, should support rallies like the one organized by the Unitarian Universalist Church.

“Everybody in this country is an immigrant from somewhere,” he said.

Valdes compared measures like the Arizona immigration law to Nazi Germany.

“It’s harsh, but this is how the Jews were treated,” he said. “The only thing they need to do is put a number on our skin.”

The Arizona law took effect Thursday but remains entangled in federal court.

It originally would have required immigrants to carry proof of legal residency at all times and allowed for immigrants to be arrested without warrant on probable cause.

“If I was there, I could be stopped because of what I look like and especially because of my accent,” Valdes said.

Though immigration laws may be made by well-intending legislators, Pearsall said, they just aren’t working.

“We can do better,” he said.

The prayer vigil attracted a single protester who carried a double-sided sign declaring “Build the wall” and “Enforce the laws.”

Pearsall said that because the church is all inclusive of people and their viewpoints, participants were interested in hearing the protester out, but not in a debate.

“I can understand why people would think that way, but a wall won’t solve our problems,” Pearsall said.

“It’s been tried before in other places, and it didn’t work then.”

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 373- 7157 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com