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

 

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