Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

Protesting the wall, racist ICE attacks, NAFTA and union busting, workers and youth on both sides of the US and Mexican border joined together on March 5, 2017 in San Ysidro and Tijuana.

Speakers talked about the role of tearing apart families with the use of immigration laws which benefit the bosses while destroying lives.

Farmworkers from San Quintin who are members of the Alliance of State National Organizations and Municipal social justice (AONEMJS) and the National Independent Democratic Union of Agricultural Workers (SINDJA) marched in Tijuana and were joined on the US side of the border by LCLAA Sacramento, the Brown Berets, Fight For $15 in San Diego, United Taxi Workers San Diego, PSL, UPWA and other organizations.

Story and photos: US-Mexico Border Worker Solidarity March/Action Against NAFTA & For Driscoll's Agriculture by Labor Video Project

On Los Angeles on September 10, 2013, in front of the Convention Center, where the AFL-CIO national convention was being held, a press conference was called by a coalition of community organizations critical of SB 744, also called Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), and the parts that would further militarize the border, would charge immigrants high fees, bring back a "Bracero"-style labor system, and of Obama's massive deportation operation. CIR is supported by a coalition of labor and community organizations, who see this as the last opportunity to pass any kind of immigration reform bill. A faction of activists from LCLLA, an AFL-CIO Latino group, entered the hall and confronted labor leader Maria Elena Durazo.

Inside, the AFL-CIO's theme was to forge a new direction, and allow alt-labor and community organizations a place within the AFL-CIO. The new executive vice president of the AFL-CIO Tefere Gebre was interviewed and also discussed his views on the efforts by President Obama to attack and bomb Syria. Also the director of the national Taxi Workers Alliance Bhairavi Desai talked about the conditions facing cab drivers and other issues as well.

Coverage, photos, and links: AFL-CIO 2013 Immigration Press Conf & The "Comprehensive Immigration Bill" Challenged by Labor Video Project

Thousands of people traveled from all over the state of California on August 14, 2013 to press Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Majority Whip from Bakersfield, to support a vote in the House of Representatives on a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Rallying in Yokuts Park, supporters of humane immigration heard from trade unionists, community organizers, religious leaders, poets, musicians, and Dreamers – undocumented students who qualified for Federal deferred action and the California Dream Acts. Then they marched a short distance to Congressman McCarthy’s district office on Empire Drive, where they were met by a handful of opponents of immigration reform. Proponents of comprehensive immigration reform carried signs saying “Reforma migratoria justa” and “The time is now.” Many waved United States and United Farm Workers’ flags. The UFW flags said, “¡Si se puede!” Some activists carried butterfly posters, suggesting that migration is a natural right. Others carried a dinosaur effigy of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, suggesting that opposition to comprehensive immigration reform legislation will lead to political extinction. Opponents of immigration reform carried signs saying “No amnesty” and “Stop illegal immigration.” One member of the group carried a sign reading “Close the border” and “Visa violators out.”

Full story and pictures: Caravans Converge on Bakersfield to Press for a Path to Citizenship by Sharat G. Lin