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  1. #1
    Administrator ALIPAC's Avatar
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    Students, workers join immigration protests (ALIPAC)

    Latinos stay away from classes, jobs, stores in immigration action

    FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, MIKE DRUMMOND DÁNICA COTO
    Staff Writers

    Nearly 400 Charlotte-Mecklenburg students missed class and more than 100 Latino workers boycotted their jobs Monday as the Carolinas joined immigrants' rights protests around the nation.

    Erika Barrera, a ninth-grader at Garinger High, said she and some classmates met in the media center after homeroom before walking out the front doors, chanting "We're not criminals."

    By noon they had joined about 50 other students, from Garinger and East Mecklenburg high schools, in a five-mile march down Central Avenue to uptown Charlotte, carrying U.S. and international flags.

    Passing motorists honked their horns -- most waving or giving a thumbs-up, others shouting "get out."

    "We left school to protest how people treat us," said Barrera, 14, walking in the brisk breeze with the group along Eastway Drive. She carried a sign reading "Brown is Beautiful." "We just want people to support us and our parents."

    An estimated 390 out of 2,990 Latino students at CMS schools missed class, district officials said. Garinger, which had 100 Latino students out, and Waddell, which had 120, reported the most Latino student absences.

    Jaime Hernandez, a 10th-grader at East Mecklenburg, walked with the Central Avenue group wearing an American flag around his neck.

    "We want people to know that we're not trying to take over," said the 16-year-old, whose parents are from El Salvador. "We care for America, too."

    Two weeks ago more than 5,000 Latinos converged on Marshall Park for a rally in support of immigrants' rights. On Monday, as cities nationwide conducted similar rallies, Charlotte leaders opted to try something different -- have immigrants show their economic might by refraining from shopping for a day.

    In addition to refraining from purchases, many Latinos in Charlotte took the extra step Monday of boycotting work and school.

    "If we're going to do something, we have to show people we're for real," said Salvador Barrera, Erika's father, who also missed work.

    Fling Irrigation in Charlotte pressed managers into front-line duty digging ditches, its owner said. Nearly two-thirds of the 65 employees stayed home.

    "The ballgame is still on, but we've got coaches in as players," said Mike Fling, adding that Hispanics "could cripple the country if they wanted to."

    Elsewhere in the Carolinas, more than 200 people walked five miles along a Smithfield highway near Raleigh, urging federal lawmakers to pass immigration reform.

    About 3,000 people in Columbia chanted and carried signs as they marched to the State House.

    Siler City, Greenville, S.C., and Charleston also hosted rallies Monday.

    Advocates of tougher border enforcement said Monday's rallies could end up helping their cause.

    William Gheen, president of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC in Raleigh, said he's received a boost in support through e-mails and phone calls in the last 48 hours as news of the protests spread.

    "It's difficult to describe the anger and anguish Americans feel seeing these lawbreakers flagrantly in our street making a mockery of the civil rights movement," he said.


    In Charlotte, many Latino stores remained open, but several reported slower business. Taquería La Única restaurants on Central Avenue and South Boulevard were closed.

    Progressive Furniture Manufacturing in Catawba County closed for the day when 161 of the 600-person work force did not come to work. Germán De Castro shut down his two textile plants in Clover and York, S.C., for the day because none of his two dozen Latino workers showed up.

    Organizers estimated the "No Consumption Day" protest caused a $5 million loss to regional businesses, calculated from a UNC Chapel Hill report on Latino economic contributions in the state.

    Mark Vitner, a Wachovia economist, said the $5 million projection "sounds reasonable." But he said in the scope of a city $75 billion economy, the effect is small.

    "They're trying to get as much attention as possible," he said. "But in regards losses to the economy it's not going to be large."

    Adriana Gálvez Taylor, the organizer of Charlotte's event, said the goal was more symbolic.

    "Sometimes it's necessary to create this type of tension in a nonviolent way," she said.

    http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/ ... 313550.htm
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  2. #2
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  3. #3
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    We Hire Illegals

    If the fact that these companies had to shut down is a very good indicator as to who is hiring illegals. I would say this would be a great opportunity for ICE to investigate those companies (including those that gave many of their employes the day off so they could protest) but we all know they aren't about to do anything anyway. Is is just me, or does it seem if I did as poor as job as ICE does I wouldn't have my job long? Also where's the vast improvement of enforcement we were suppose to see after the INS became ICE. Guess it was all a bunch of BSA (Bull S**t Again)

  4. #4
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    "We just want people to support us and our parents."
    Barrera dear that's exactly what we been doing but the gravy train is about to come to an abrupt halt.


    if I did as poor as job as ICE does I wouldn't have my job long
    I'm afraid they're doing exactly what they're getting paid to do-NOTHING.
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