Protesters: Borders Law Makes Migrants Criminals
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clock Feb 18, 2006 2:40 pm US/Eastern
Protesters: Borders Law Makes Migrants Criminals
(CBS4/AP) MIAMI A march through downtown Miami today protested a change in immigration laws which some believes would make criminals out of millions of migrant workers in the country without permission. Busloads of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean rallied Saturday against proposed legislation that would require employers to provide information to verify the legal status of its workers.
About 300 people from Colombia, Cuba, Haiti and other countries listened to speeches in Spanish and English, then marched on downtown Miami to protest a proposed federal law that immigration advocates say would criminalize the nation's 11 million undocumented workers.
The Florida Coalition of Immigrants held a news conference Saturday morning to explain the hardship the proposed law will have on people who make the nation’s harvest possible. They voiced opposition against a bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., that aims to tighten border controls and stop unlawful immigrants from getting jobs.
The most sweeping provision of the House bill would require all employers in the country, more than 7 million, to submit Social Security numbers and other information to a national data base to verify the legal status of workers.
Such a law would affect Florida businesses and workers, especially in the farming industry. Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said about 400,000 immigrant farm workers tend and harvest the state's citrus crop, which contributes to a $9 billion citrus industry.
