Thread: Pro-immigrant march set for Labor Day

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_4188131

Article Launched: 8/16/2006 12:00 AM



Pro-immigrant march set for Labor Day
By Araceli Esparza Staff Writer
Pasadena Star-News

The head of one of the main Latino organizations behind last spring's massive pro-illegal immigrant marches said Tuesday activists are planning a similar large-scale demonstration on Labor Day.

Nativo Lopez, director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, a pro-immigrant group, said he expects at least 20,000 people to turn out for a Sept. 4 march to be held in Wilmington, near the ports of Long Beach. That march could kick off a series of demonstrations lasting through the month of September, Lopez said.

And for the first time, pro-immigrant activists will mesh their cause with the labor movement, Lopez added.

Teamsters, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and other union members will join pro-illegal immigrant activists and their supporters at the Sept. 4 event, Lopez said.

The aim, he added, is to show a "united refutation" of immigration reform proposals that would hurt the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living here.

"For the first time, this will be the immigrant rights' Labor Day with labor workers," Lopez said. "This will be a show of unity between the labor movement and the immigrant rights movement for fair immigration legislation."

Union officials are attempting to organize certain categories of employees who work at the ports in Long Beach. Last week, however, the nation's largest unions agreed to help organize day laborers, many of whom are here illegally.

The nexus of organized labor and the illegal immigrant work force could create a powerful combination that would benefit both groups, said Randy Ertll, executive director of El Centro de Accion Social in Pasadena.

Lopez said the partnership solidified during last week's Immigrant Strategy Convention held in Chicago and involving dozens of pro-immigrant groups and union officials - more than 400 organizations from 40 states.

From that gathering, organizers formed a new coalition, the National Alliance for Immigrant Rights, he said.

That coalition now is organizing pro-immigrant/pro-labor marches in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Dallas, New York and other large cities, according to Lopez.

"The ultimate goal is to get bipartisan support from both the House and the Senate," Ertll said. "The immigration debate has gone under the radar. What's being done is to get attention to the issue again."

Indeed, some Latino activists have expressed frustration over the lack of action on immigration reform in Washington. Others expected to see the issue move forward after the massive marches in downtown Los Angeles and other major cities this past spring.

While activists have launched a voter-registration drive that aims to register 1million new Latino voters, others say that process is slow and has so far made no progress in breaking the stalemate over immigration reform.

Next month could see other mass demonstrations by pro-immigrant organizers, as September is Hispanic Heritage Month and is also when many Latin American countries celebrate independence days, Lopez noted.

The aim of the actions is to bring immigration reform to the forefront in time for the November elections - but reform that includes a guest-worker program and a path toward legalization for undocumented immigrants, Lopez said.

"No one knows where the immigration debate will be, especially as the elections come," Ertll said. "People have become frustrated that it's become a never-ending debate."

araceli.esparza@sgvn.com

(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3024

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Well I hope these 'demonstrations' have the same effect as the spring marches did. It will be nice to see many more Americans wake up and take action against this.

What gives ILLEGAL immigrants the right to these type of things?? Boggles my mind that LEGAL AMERICANS put up with this crap. The unions are now jumping on the bandwagon to side with the ILLEGALS, the people that are having union dues taken out of their checks every week should be going wild and demanding the union support the people that are trying to make things right in this country, and not give out free rides/passes to the ones that are taking their jobs. Unreal, this country is going to hell in the proverbial handbasket and the general public is helping. Some of us are fighting this war, but the apathy of many Americans sickens me. They either don't care, are afraid of illegals depending on where they live, or will just let someone else do it. WAKE UP FOLKS, the war is here, the war is now, don't wait for someone else to do it, get involved. They say its up to the politicians to fix this matter, well , duhhhhhhh, how do you think we got in this mess. I am a member of several small grassroots groups here in Florida and also the Florida Minutemen. I am trying to leave a better country for my grandchildren than what I have now. This is not the American way, or the American way of life I grew up to love. And I bet it's not yours either, but at least I am trying.

Thought this was worth bumping with a new article.

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_4248304

Rights group moves ahead
Pro-immigrant rallies planned
By Araceli Esparza Staff Writer
Whittier Daily News

They're already hard at work.

Only a few weeks old, the National Alliance for Immigrant's Rights is coordinating large-scale, pro-immigration demonstrations throughout the United States next month.

"In order to have an effective struggle for immigrant rights, there's got to be a national organization," said Julio Marroquin of the Laborers International Union, which has a district office in El Monte and is part of the National Alliance for Immigrant's Rights.

Hundreds of immigration activists nationwide formed the coalition after an August conference in Chicago.

The weekend convention consolidated the pro-immigration movement nationally and set strategies for future social actions, officials for the coalition said.

Alliance members said they plan to hold a news conference in Los Angeles this week to discuss their mission and to announce a series of local actions, beginning with demonstrations on Labor Day.

"The main goal is full legalization" for all undocumented immigrants, said Miguel Lopez of Norwalk, a port representative for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

He said the coalition is strongly opposed to "criminalization statutes, militarization of the border, guest worker programs and the violation of their civil/labor rights."

But Tim Bueler, a spokesman for the Minuteman Project, said the new coalition is abetting people who are breaking the law by being in this country illegally.

"When you have these lobbying groups supporting illegal activity, you have to question it. You don't have bank robbers having a march," he said. "The problem that I do have is when they are for something that is illegal and they support that illegality."

Illegal immigrants are simply "breaking the law and asking for more rights than they already have," Bueler added.

Lopez said the new national organization group plans a Labor Day march in Wilmington, as well as a series of other actions throughout September. What the group calls a National Day of Action is planned for Sept. 30, he said.

"Once a national network of like-minded people commences to coordinate efforts on a just cause, the impact will be a sustained popular debate, which will lead to change and social justice," Lopez said.

Nativo Lopez said he is also working with the American Muslim Council and Asian immigrant-rights groups.

While the Minutemen have the right to extol their views, so do immigrant-rights advocates, Lopez said.

"They're advocating their position and certainly we're advocating ours," he said.

araceli.esparza@sgvn.com

(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3024

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_art ... f3345024c7

Labor Day Marches to Tell Congress ‘Give Us Comprehensive Reform’

New America Media, Commentary, Deepak Bhargava, Aug 28, 2006

Editor's Note: Nationwide marches will greet Congress’ return around Labor Day and say no to enforcement-only immigration “reform.” IMMIGRATION MATTERS regularly features the views of the nation's leading immigrant rights advocates. Deepak Bhargava is the executive director of Washington, DC-based Center for Community Change.

WASHINGTON, DC -- August was the longest month for millions of immigrants across the United States. None of the decision-makers in the immigration drama, including President Bush and U.S. Senators, changed their positions. Meanwhile, misguided House Republicans, rather than negotiating an immigration bill with their Senate counterparts, assembled a chaotic flurry of one-sided media events euphemistically called “hearings” and bashed immigrants to bolster faltering poll numbers. Unwilling to compromise and unable to browbeat opponents into bending to their extreme positions, the House leadership returns to Capitol Hill on September 5.

Just in time. A new round of pro-immigrant Labor Day mobilizations is being planned in communities across the country between September 2 and September 9 . Immigrants and their allies are taking to the streets once more to demonstrate that they have not been intimidated into silence by the actions of irresponsible public officials.

This week of events under the We Are America Alliance, will kick off in Illinois on September 2, where a coalition is planning a four-day march beginning in Chinatown and ending in Batavia at the home office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert. As they march, immigrants and their supporters will be thinking of Elvira Arellano, a Chicago-area activist and undocumented immigrant, who took refuge in her church to avoid deportation and removal from her seven-year-old son who is a United States citizen.

On September 4, pro-immigrant demonstrators will rally once again in Phoenix. This time the message is a direct call on Congress to take action on immigration reform. Event organizers will focus on the growing political power of immigrants in Arizona. As they rally in the desert heat, marchers will reflect on the more than 130 immigrants who have died on the Arizona border since last October. They will courageously take a stand against harsh rhetoric that stoked nearly 50 anti-immigrant bills in the state legislature this spring, increasing incidents of racial profiling and chilling actions taken by local law enforcement officials in Maricopa County.

On September 7, in what will likely be the largest of the September demonstrations, hundreds of thousands from across the eastern United States will gather on the National Mall in Washington, DC calling on congressional leaders to get back to work in a bipartisan manner to negotiate a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

And in Los Angeles, immigrants will gather in the thousands on September 9 to show their commitment to participating in American public life by registering to vote and educating themselves on the American political system so that they can make a real difference in the lives of their families.

More events are planned in Oregon, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and in other communities across the nation.

Together they will make the point that millions of hardworking undocumented immigrants contribute billions in taxes each year, despite the fact that our outdated immigration laws exploit immigrant workers in an underground economy and drive down standards for everyone – immigrants and native-born workers alike. Real immigration reform will include true worker and labor protections to help eliminate this underground economy and create opportunities for immigrants to work legally.

For their part, the marchers can point to public opinion polls that show the broader community agrees with them. Poll after poll has demonstrated that regardless of political party, rage, age, or region of the country, the majority of Americans want a solution to the broken immigration system that both makes the nation and our communities more secure and provides an earned path to citizenship for hardworking immigrants.

Politicians who use immigrant scapegoating in their politics should take heed, because the numbers speak for themselves. Today, there are more than 5.1 million unregistered naturalized citizens, 6 million more infrequent immigrant voters and 8 million legal permanent residents currently eligible to become citizens. These are the kinds of numbers that can make a real difference in American politics, not just in the mid-term elections this year, but far into the future.

Immigrants are ready to hold their congressional representatives accountable for their actions.

"The main goal is full legalization" for all undocumented immigrants, said Miguel Lopez of Norwalk, a port representative for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

So is there a single group that hasn't sold out to the open borders/invaders lobby.

This was a great country while it lasted, but it's over.

Nativo Lopez said he is also working with the American Muslim Council

Oh, I'm sure this will endear them to the American public....

For their part, the marchers can point to public opinion polls that show the broader community agrees with them. Poll after poll has demonstrated that regardless of political party, rage, age, or region of the country, the majority of Americans want a solution to the broken immigration system that both makes the nation and our communities more secure and provides an earned path to citizenship for hardworking immigrants.

They just keep believing this lie....I guess they hope others will too. This man is an idiot and a danger to American. I think such marches will only stiffen the House's resolve to stand strong. I'm sure this irritates the hell out of them.

I never dreamed this would be happening in American....but thanks to Bush, who apparently shut down enforcement when he took office. The invasion started when he was sworn in and hasn't stopped since.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/ ... ci_4259750

Article Last Updated: 08/30/2006 02:51:04 AM PDT

-b=Immigration groups plan Labor Day rallies in area
Activists hope to send Congress a message to resolve reform legislation[/b]
By Jessie Mangaliman, MEDIANEWS

With ambitions to equal the turnout of massive immigration rallies in April and May, organizers announced plans for Labor Day marches in the Bay Area and across the nation.
The Monday marches in San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco and other U.S. cities, organizers say, will hopefully kick-start the stalled immigration reform legislation. Conflicting bills approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have yet to reach compromise discussions.

"On this day we want to send a message to Congress to resolve the issue for 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country," said Jose Sandoval of the Voluntarios de la Comunidad, one of the San Jose organizing groups behind the march.

Starting last week, Sandoval and other volunteers are collecting signatures for a banner to be carried by marchers on the national holiday. Like the May 1 march — which drew an estimated 125,000 people to San Jose streets — the group will gather on the East Side and march to City Hall.

"We hope to have a good mass of folks," said Larisa Casillas, new executive director of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition. "It's a fitting day to highlight the contribution of immigrant workers," she said. "Congress is back in session on Friday

and we want to continue to keep putting on pressure for immigration reform."

Marches and rallies are also being organized in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. Sandoval said he and other organizers hope to equal the attendance of the massive marches in April and May.

"I'm optimistic," said Walter Rodriguez, a volunteer organizer for the September march. "People are tired of waiting for Congress to do its work on immigration reform."

The march will focus on legalization for illegal immigrants and stopping a House-approved bill that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally.

Roberta Allen, a San Jose small-business owner who organized a counterprotest to "A Day Without Immigrants" in May, said she knew of no plans to hold a counterprotest on Labor Day.

"I think people are getting a little tired of people who are here illegally demanding rights in this country," she said. "We're not anti-immigrant. It's illegal immigration that we're against."

I remember the dope from LULAC mentioning something about a march on Labor Day at the Farmers Branch rally.

I emailed my local Repub leader and he gave me the feeling that the party wants nothing to do with activism. Then, I read the articles on this site, including comments from K B Hutchison, and my fears are confirmed. You know the libs and pro-illegal immigration folks are gonna get their issues out there. Why can't those fighting for the side of good have a voice? I for one have no plans on sitting on my duff while this country's leadership (though not all, some do good things) allow it to go to chaos.

If they plan on marching, I plan on being there. God Bless America!!!