IMMIGRANT RIGHTS GROUP STEPS UP RALLIES FOR AMNESTY AND LEGALIZATION

by Coalition in Defense of Immigrant Rights Wednesday, Sep. 06, 2006 at 3:30 AM

Immigrant Rights Groups Steps Up Rallies for Amnesty and Legalization

Los Angeles—Different Immigrant rights groups and coalitions stepped up their mass actions to force the US Congress to enact laws that will give amnesty and full rights to more than 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

From September 2, 2005 different mass actions were held all over California and other parts of the United States like Seattle, Phoenix, Arizona, Chicago and other states during the long Labor Day weekend. Labor groups, anti wart and other progressive groups together with the immigrant rights advocates banded together to push the people’s agenda.

- Last September 2, in Los Angeles, at least 3,000 immigrant and advocated marched from Olympic and Broadway to City Hall to demand legalization and support the struggle of Elvira Arellano, a single mother not to be deported in Chicago. The march was led by the Los Angeles based March 25 Coalition. Though smaller in numbers unlike the mobilizations from March to May this year, the mass actions can be considered a muscle flexing for bigger rallies in the offing.

- September 4, more than 8,000 marchers led by the Bay Area Unity Coalition for Immigrant Rights in the USA marched from the Justin Herman Plaza to the Civic Center in San Francisco and held a rally for immigrant rights. The AJLPP Bay Area figured prominently with the Deporte dela Migra and other Filipino American organizations.

- September 4, apparently without respect for unions or workers, a handful of minutemen attempted to invade and disrupt the annual Union Labor Day picnic and festival at Banning Park, Willmington. California. At about 12:15, about a dozen minutemen with signs managed to get about a hundred feet into the park before they were confronted by a couple of hundred union members. Coincidentally, as they approached, the SEIU speaker was talking about the "most vulnerable" workers, those who work for less than minimum wage without union protection. As the words "cazamigrantes" and "minutemen" spread through the park and the crowd grew, the police and union workers intervened to move the minutemen out of the park. By 12:30, the minutemen had re-assembled across the street and protested unnoticed for the rest of the celebration.

The family fiesta, with classic cars and classic rock, speakers, and booths for IWW, UTLA, CNA, SEIU, Teamsters, and today's heroes, the EAA, continued without incident. They were joined by numerous organizations supporting the workers' struggle, including ANSWER-LA, Radical Women, the International Socialist Organization, and the Peace and Freedom Party.

Cardinal Mahony Calls for Amnesty and Legalization

Los Angeles Roman Catholic Church Cardinal Roger Mahony called for “ the enactment of humane and just laws for 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States” during his homily in the Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral last Sunday’s mass for the September 4 Labor Day.

He called on the US Congress not to play politics and play with the lives of millions of “working and honest people” in the country. He blamed Congress for not acting with dispatch and enact laws for the poor and the workers. He said: “Congress in to blame for not enacting laws during the 1986 amnesty that led to this mess.”

Cardinal Mahony was a prominent advocate for immigrant rights. He opposed the unjust HR 4437 and promised to defy the bill if it becomes a law. The HR 4437 is still up in the air with a now version in the Senate, the SB 2611 or the Comprehensive Immigrant Reform Act that all immigrant rights organization opposes.

Bigger mass actions are slated in Los Angeles on September 9 after the national congress of Latino organizations called Congreso de la Raza (Congress of the Race) to be held from September 6 to 9 in Los Angeles. The big mobilization will be held in Chinatown.

The labor unions connected with the Win to Change Coalition, the County Federation of Labor, the Coalition in Defense of Immigrant Rights (CDIR) and MIWON will be mobilizing for this mass action.

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