Thread: Protesters Coverage on Home Depot

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... i-news-hed

Protesters converge on Home Depot

By Oscar Avila
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 7, 2006, 2:17 PM CST

A Home Depot parking lot in Cicero became the latest immigration battleground as protestors squared off Saturday over the role of day laborers, many of them illegal immigrants, who solicit work at the site daily.

About 30 opponents of illegal immigration, including members of the controversial Chicago Minuteman Project, picketed the site and urged contractors not to hire illegal workers. The protest coincided with others around the nation at day labor sites.

Nearby, about 125 day laborers and immigrant advocates defended the workers' right to seek jobs at the site and touted the contributions of undocumented immigrants to the economy.

The protests were peaceful, in contrast to an October summit by the Minutemen in Arlington Heights that resulted in a chaotic scene and five arrests of counter-protesters.

Before dawn Saturday, Cicero police had already massed in the parking lot to head off confrontations for the most visible local rally yet by the Minutemen, an offshoot of volunteers who patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal immigrants last year.

"This is about law enforcement," group co-founder Rick Biesada said. "We are either a nation of laws or a nation of anarchy."

Protesters, which included the Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement, had hoped to videotape the license plates of contractors who solicit day laborers and later report them to immigration authorities and the Internal Revenue Service. But police kept them far from the workers.

Closer to the Home Depot, workers and advocates condemned the Minutemen and also urged Cicero authorities to stop arresting day laborers for trespassing. Five day laborers were arrested Wednesday and charged with trespassing as they sought work at the Home Depot sight. During the summer, a total of 55 day laborers were arrested there.

"We are not doing anything wrong," said Aureliano Salazar, 52, a day laborer from Chicago. "We just want to work. Would (the Minutemen) do this work?"

Sergio Guadarrama, a 32-year-old day laborer from Chicago, predicted that the Minutemen protests would disrupt the day's work but would have "no effect" on their efforts to solicit labor there.

Sure enough, as immigrant advocates were giving speeches, a car pulled up. A supporter called out that a contractor was looking for help.

"Who here paints?" he asked. "Who paints?" Three workers converged on the car to get some work.

oavila@tribune.com

I think I saw the first illegal immigrant looking for work at Home Depot in my hometown that I have ever seen. He was speaking Portuguese, so he was probably Brazilian.

But then I saw him inside later with a shopping cart full of stuff, so I really don't know.