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