Workers Join Immigrant Rights Rally

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Chanting "Si se puede!" and demanding "Bush escucha, estamos en la lucha," thousands -- including many union members – rallied for immigrant rights in the blistering heat Saturday. Speakers addressed the effects of the Senate compromise immigration bill on workers' rights, families, and the citizenship status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants. “This rally is our strategic opportunity to send a loud and clear message to Congress that now’s the time for real immigration reform,” said Jaime Contreras, SEIU 32BJ District Director. “We are constructions workers, hotel workers, doctors, firefighters, soldiers…We work to defend this country everyday, this country we love,” added Contreras. The National Capital Immigrant Coalition (NCIC), who organized the event, calls the Senate compromise bill “deeply problematic” legislation that will negatively impact “immigrants and the workability of the immigration system.” NCIC also notes that the guestworker program offers workers no path to citizenship and “will downgrade wages and working conditions for all US-born and immigrant workers.
-Report/photos by Andy Richards