Workers, Not Criminals
Members Build Campaign for Immigration Reform
This spring brought not only the annual blossoming of crocuses, violets and rhododendrons, but also an explosion of demonstrations for immigrants’ rights. On April 10 alone, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in 160 U.S. cities. Earlier protests in Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas each drew more than one-half million participants.
Thousands of immigrant families were among those who rallied at New York City Hall on April 10. |
“People just want to work and live here and help America. I hope this rally helps everybody,” said Ukrainian-born Lydmila Chugina, a home attendant with New York City’s Project OHR before joining 1199ers at April 10 Manhattan march. |
On May 1, more than a million people demonstrated and rallied across the country in opposition to H.R. 4437, a bill introduced by Congress members James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.).
H.R. 4437 would make undocumented immigrants aggravated criminal felons and also turn anyone who aids them – including the clergy and social workers – into criminals. The measure also calls for erecting a 700-mile wall across the U.S.-Mexico border at a cost of $1,000,000 per mile.
“The U.S. is a nation of immigrants,” says New York Downtown hospital medical records clerk Laurine Tatham. “What could we possibly gain by forcing undocumented immigrants to return to their homelands? What we need to do is make sure immigrants are not exploited, especially as workers, because that hurts us all.”
1199ers have been in the forefront of the immigration reform campaign. Many took part in April 10 marches and rallies in Boston and New Bedford, Mass.
“It was great to see people of so many different nationalities,” said Oliver Leslie, of Georgetown University Hospital who joined marchers in Washington, D.C.
1199ers were also among the major organizers of the Long Island and Manhattan rallies. Hundreds joined feeder marches from Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and Chinatown to a boisterous rally of some 300,000 outside City Hall.
During their march from Chinatown, Homecare Division members sang the union anthem “Solidarity Forever” in Mandarin and chanted for reforms that respect the rights of immigrant workers.
“We hope that this demonstration can lead to legislation that can help our friends and relatives make a new start here as we have,” says Minshen Zou, a Chinatown Planning Council home attendant, who was joined in the march from Chinatown by her son, Stephen, an Adelphi College junior.
“I KNOW HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS.”
Many 1199ers carried placards expressing their support for S. 1033, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, introduced by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass). Rather than criminalize the undocumented and those who assist them, the bill would:
• Establish an earned path to citizenship for immigrant workers,
• Set immigration limits that adust with the nation’s needs,
• Penalize employers who exploit immigrant workers, and
• Reunite families.
The movement has generated debate, but also has garnered support in the African American community. In 2003 immigrant activists formally incorporated a symbol of the civil rights movement when they staged nationwide bus caravans, which they called freedom rides.
Civil-rights organizations such as the NAACP and Rainbow/PUSH have called for the defeat of H.R. 4437 and the passage of pro-immigrant legislation.
“Immigration is the civil rights struggle of our time,” says Houston African American Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
“I know how important it is to come out of the shadows,” says 1199SEIU delegate Lilia Agredo, a Queens Midway NH CNA for the last 14 years. “I was here illegally before I got my green card,” she says. “I earned $3 an hour and I was afraid to do anything. Becoming a citizen made it possible for me to go to school and get a union job with benefits and pension. I have a voice and I also have a vote.”
|
