Massive Demo Today For Immigrant Rights
Monday, April 10, 2006(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Over 100,000 are expected to gather in Washington today in a massive
demonstration for immigration rights (see On The Line). Millions more will rally
and march across the country. Local union activists will join immigrant rights
groups, grassroots community allies, elected officials, business and faith-based
leaders today on the National Mall to denounce current proposals that
criminalize immigrant workers. The
event is one of 72 across the nation for the National Day of Action on Immigrant
Rights — part of the biggest mobilization in history on this issue. The
mega-rallies and marches are directed at halting H.R. 4437 and demand humane
immigration solutions that provide a path to citizenship, unite families, deal
with the future flow of immigrants in a legal and compassionate way, and ensure
workplace and civil rights protections for all. "HR 4437 violates our most basic
American values – it would rip families apart and condemn religious and
non-profit service providers, while failing to make us safer as a nation," said
Abdul Kamus, Organizer for UNITE-HERE and the President of the African Resource
Center. The "National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice" is coordinated by the
National Capital Immigrant Coalition (NCIC), labor unions, national immigrant
rights and civil rights organizations, and hundreds of grassroots organizations
and activists; see www.april10.org for more info. At the march and rally,
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will join representatives from the Laborer's
Union (LIUNA), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Service
Employees International Union, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
(LCLAA), Sen. Kennedy and others to call for dignity and respect for all
workers. NOTE: in 1930, more than 100 Mexican and Filipino farm workers were
arrested for union activities in California's Imperial Valley; see THIS WEEK IN
LABOR HISTORY below, for details. Dallas rally photos courtesy Houston
Chronicle