Manuel Yglesias is standing in a line of 14 immigrants. His image is carved, like the others, from a granite stone as massive as their dreams of a better life. Among the men, women and two children, Yglesias is the third person from the rear, wearing a top coat and a somber face of hope. The boat next to them is heading to America, where they will find a home in the Ironbound section of Newark.

Yglesias arrived in 1918 from northern Spain. He worked hard and owned several businesses, including a Spanish specialty food store. His Ironbound story is similar to that of many immigrants from Europe and of African-Americans migrating from the South, as well as recent immigrants from Central and South America.

They came looking for opportunity, and that spirit is captured in the Ironbound Immigrants Memorial Monument, a major piece of public art unveiled Saturday as a tribute to their American journey.

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The monument, worth one's time to visit, is behind Newark Penn Station in Peter Francisco Park. There's no way to miss its colossal stature on Ferry Street.

Created by Sculptor Camilo Satiro of Kearny, the monument is 16 feet tall, 25 feet in length, 9 feet wide and weighs 2 tons. It could easily be sitting next to statues on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

But this life-size historical artifact belongs in Newark --thanks to the vision of East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador, who collaborated with the Ironbound Business Improvement District (IBID) to make it happen. More than $250,000 in donations was raised to pay homage to a population that, Amador said, contributed to the fiber of this community.

"They are the faceless men and women who did nothing but get up in the morning, work hard, take care of their family and care for their neighborhood," Amador said.

Yglesias, who was 81 when he died in the late 1980s, is one of those faces, as are others from the Ironbound who represent different ethnic groups that arrived as far back as the 19th century. They include Germans, Irish, Italians, Jews, Portuguese, Lithuanians, Spanish, Brazilians, Ecuadoreans, Mexicans and Peruvians.

"My father was fortunate to be one of the people on the monument," said IBID President Steven Yglesias. "We are incredibly honored."

Maria Lurdes DiJulio stared at the sculpture and could see herself at age 23. That's how old she was when she left Portugal 55 years ago, fleeing her homeland, which was under the authoritarian government of President Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.

"This is for the people to remember the way people came to America," said Lurdes DiJulio, 78, who still lives in the Ironbound.

Not only is the monument a representation of the East Ward, said Mayor Ras Baraka, but of Newark as a city of immigrants, "a city of folks who are coming here for an opportunity, looking for growth in their family, looking for a way to move up into the middle class."

The crowd that gathered was impressed with the monument, except for a small group of demonstrators who identified themselves as Stop Immigration Detentions in Essex County.

One of its members, Jay Arena, called the monument a "farce" because unauthorized immigrants now are being arrested, detained and deported.

"Immigrants are being attacked and these people (city officials) are posturing as a friend of immigrants," said Arena.

Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura took issue with the group in his remarks, correcting them when they said he operates the immigration detention center.

Directing his comments to the protesters, Fontoura said Newark has been an oasis for immigrants from countries that didn't allow them to protest against their government.

They came to this country, Fontoura said, and served in the military, like he did, "so that you can have freedom of speech."

Ironbound residents and their families erupted in applause, cheering Fontoura because they said this day was about honoring immigrants -- past and present - who made the Ironbound the vital community that it is today.

Mary Azagra, 87, is one of them.

She has lived in the Ironbound since she was 3 months old. Born in Spain, Azagra was an infant when her father, the late Dario Vazquez, sent for her and her late mother, Remedios Vazquez, who made the 30-day voyage by boat. Her father, a World War I soldier, was a truck driver for the city of Newark.

"We needed this," she said, speaking of the monument. "Practically every nation lives in the Ironbound. We live next to each other; we talk to each other."

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Antonio Evaristo, 85, came to Newark in 1960, working construction. He is still in the neighborhood, and so is daughter, Rose Marie Ruivo, 60, who was 2 years old when she came from Portugal.

"It's the Ironbound," she said. "Roots are roots."

Carlos Farinhas is not leaving, either. He was 19 when he left Portugal in 1956. Like many immigrants, he started as a laborer in construction. Farinhas, however, would become a foreman, a superintendent and eventually own his construction company, Scafar Contracting Inc., until he retired in 2003.

The monument, nearly 21/2 years in the making, was supposed to be installed last July on a traffic island at five corners, an area in the Ironbound where five streets intersect in front of St. Stephan's Grace Community Church.

The location changed when Amador and improvement district officials learned that sewer pipes ran under the traffic island, which would not support the monument's weight.

The park, a gateway to the Ironbound, turned out to be the best place.

"This is our Statue of Liberty," said IBID Executive Director Seth Grossman. "It says welcome to Newark."

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL