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Wants undocumented immigrants legalized

By David Plazas
dplazas@news-press.com
Originally posted on January 16, 2006

A newly formed group that supports the legalization of undocumented immigrants has called for a statewide strike of farmworkers and other laborers.

Leaders of the United Latino Immigrants of Florida on Sunday officially inaugurated their group and announced their plans for the strike at a rally at the soccer fields on Walston Avenue just south of Highway 70 in Arcadia.

The purpose of the strike is to show government leaders the money Florida businesses would lose if undocumented immigrants stopped working. That would include workers in the farm, construction, roofing and services industry.

The strike could come as early as late February, but leaders are still working to gain support from farm-labor crew leaders, laborers and other immigrant-rights advocacy groups, said group president Luis Ybarra.

"We want to hit the government hard so that they feel the economic losses in the state of Florida from not having immigrants work," he told a crowd of a few hundred people in Spanish.

"We don't want to be the sacrificial lambs anymore, blamed for all the problems of the country," he added. "We want our driver's licenses or an amnesty. Most of all, we want the legal papers we need to live here â€â€