Support "A Day Without Immigrants"
Millions of immigrants across the United States will take a sick day from work and school to peacefully march in protest of Congress' ill-conceived and overly punitive immigration reform proposals and to demand the recognition that is due them as an indispensable part of our labor force. This is not unprecedented in our country's history.
On May 1, 1886, workers in the U.S., many of them immigrants, took to the streets to protest oppressive working conditions. Over the course of the next several days, there was bloodshed and repressive police tactics, but thereafter, all workers in the U.S. incurred the benefits of an 8 hour, 5 day workweek, the right to unionize and other needed protections.
Today there will be rallies, boycotts and work closures. What do the marchers and protesters want? As NNIR puts it,
[They are] demanding recognition as indispensable members of U.S. society, with the right to living wages, safe working conditions and protections. They want the same rights as any other member of the U.S.: the right to travel, work, live, study and worship freely and safely, and to reunite their families without discrimination and violence.
We do need immigration reform. But the new policies must be humane and provide equality. The reforms we need are ones which will:
- Provide the opportunity for undocumented immigrants to legalize their status
- Expand avenues for legal immigration and support family reunification
- Provide access and options for permanent residency and citizenship
- Strengthen labor protections and their enforcement for all workers, both native and foreign born
- End the employer sanctions program
- End border and immigration enforcement abuses
Legalization should be immediate and without conditions. There should be no criminalization and no border walls. There should be protection of labor rights and civil liberties.
Sensenbrenner's H.R. 4437, a bad, bad border bill, must go down to defeat. We do not want legislation that creates a "permanent criminalized underclass" or one that would split up families or not provide for a clear path to legalization. As NNIR says,
The pending proposals in Congress are ignoring the historic and massive grassroots immigrant worker and community movement calling for justice and equality as part of any immigration reforms, and who say no to any proposal that divides families, offers deportations and temporary worker visas, guts civil rights and liberties, and creates a three-tiered workforce and society, where immigrants are disposable and deportable.
What about the immigration crisis? There is no immigration crisis.
There is no immigration crisis -- other than the one created by a small but vocal stripe of opportunist politicians, media demagogues and freelance xenophobes. So it has always been throughout the history of this country when anti-immigrant hysteria periodically reigns during ebbs in our national sense of security and vision.
....The number of claimed "illegal aliens" as a percentage of the population is clearly absorbable by the job market, as our low unemployment rate demonstrates.
....It is time to acknowledge that we need the immigrant workers as much as they need us, and to begin to treat them with the respect they deserve.
If you are driving around and see the rallies, honk your horn in support. Cheer them on. Take pictures to upload to your blog. Particularly at 12:16 pm:
At exactly 12:16pm on May 1st, immigrant workers, business owners, and community members at several locations can take a few minutes out from their workday to join together in solidarity with immigrants across the nation, by lining up along major immigrant commercial thoroughfares and holding signs that read, "We Are America!" and "I Love Immigrant New York!"
The symbolism of 12:16? It's the day Sensenbrenner's bill passed the House of Representatives.
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