BLOOMINGTON - Community leaders called for "sensible" immigration reform Monday at the Bloomington-based kickoff for the national Reform Immigration for America Campaign.

"We ask the government to please come together with a reform system that makes sense," said the Rev. David Santana Jr., the son of a Cuban immigrant who escaped to the U.S. at age 17. He is a pastor at Restoration Christian Church in Bloomington.

Santana was among about two dozen community, church and business leaders at the event organized to promote the Fair Immigration Reform Movement summit. That event will be Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and Sonny Garcia, a community organizer with the Central Illinois Organizing Project, plans to attend.

The activists also plan to lobby local U.S. Reps. Debbie Halvorson, a Crete Democrat, and Tim Johnson, an Urbana Republican, to encourage reform.

Speaking at Mount Moriah Christian Church at the former Bloomington Junior High School, Santana said the current system often divides parents from their children. Fathers may cross the border illegally in search of work and leave families behind, for example.

"The current immigration system divides and destroys families," said the father of two. "That is not what I learned about the values of this country."

Immigration reform is not just good for immigrants, but also for America, said Daniel Ramirez, an Illinois State University senior education major who has worked recently with CIOP, which is a local grassroots human rights organization, and Latinos United for Change.

If illegal immigrants have a chance to become citizens, they could come "out of the shadows," he said. They would pay income taxes, for example, which would benefit all Americans, he said.

Also attending Monday's event were workers from the bankrupt Wildwood Industries. They were there to call for fair treatment of all workers, American-born and immigrant.

Among them was Mary Jo Horton of Bloomington, who isn't an immigrant but favors immigration reform for those who "are trying to better themselves."

In a related effort, organizers plan a meeting to bring police representatives together with the public to discuss issues concerning the local Hispanic population. The meetings will be at 4 p.m. July 20 at Western Avenue Community Center and at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at St. Mary's Church, both in Bloomington.